A Danny Phanfic
by thedistantsandpiper
Summary: When Danny breaks his leg in a fight, everything after that seems to go wrong. He goes to Desiree to get rid of his ghost powers. Now it's up to Sam and Tucker to change his mind about being half ghost...or not.
1. Chapter 1

**A DANNY PHANFIC**

I absotively, posolutely DISOWN DANNY PHANTOM OR ANY CHARACTERS RELATED TO DANNY PHANTOM. Butch Hartman owns the the show. Not me...but I DO own this phanfiction, so please DO NOT steal it and call it your own. You MAY save it to read or add a link to it but DO NOT steal it. I've been working VERY hard on it the past year (since March 2006). Anything relating to Season 3 of DP (that's "Eye for an Eye" and up) is just coincidence (sp). I know that Danny gets rid of his ghost powers in "Phantom Planet", but I had that idea for my fic WAY before I saw that eppie.  
(BTW, please don't freak b/c I have Danielle's name spelled "Dani" instead of "Danni". Dani is the shortened version of Danielle - that's why it's like that.)

* * *

**ONE**

Fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton watched listlessly as his English teacher -Mr. Lancer-paced back and forth across the floor of his small office, lecturing him about his grades and attention span. The deep blue of Danny's eyes were almost hidden as his teacher rambled on. 'How can he talk like this?' Danny wondered shaking off sleep. He hadn't exactly gotten his required nine hours of sleep for the past few days because of all the ghost activity. First it was Technus with his rampage of speeches (again)-an easy catch. Then the Box Ghost on his usual rounds. And then every other ghost he'd ever fought streaming out of the ghost zone.

"DANIEL!" Mr. Lancer commanded sharply. "Have you been listening to a SINGLE word I've said in the past"-he glanced at the clock- "20 minutes?" He noticed Danny stare blankly at him. Lancer searched the face of the preoccupied teen that sat before him. Bags had placed themselves under Danny's eyes-obvious to lack of sleep, Lancer noted. 'He looks like he's been fighting all night, and then he expects to sleep in my class? Unless he's studying all night-which I highly doubt!' Mr. Lancer observed.

Danny shook himself and started to search through his pocket as Mr. Lancer started ranting on again about how his GPA was dropping, how he failed quizzes (even the easiest), and whatnot. 'Why me?' Danny thought as he felt through his pocket. Paperclips, dice from last night's game of Yahtzee with the folks, notes from Sam and Tuck, gum wrappers. 'Why can't I be like everyone else? Why do I have to have the ghost powers? Why do I have to protect everyone that's anyone from ghosts? Why do'- he cut himself off when he found what he was looking for. A quarter.

"…and as for your attendance record, well..." Mr. Lancer sighed. "I won't even go there." He stopped mid-lecture to glance at Danny, not expecting the least bit of sympathy from the boy. Instead, he found the raven-haired teen flipping a quarter to keep himself busy.

Danny looked up to find a very unimpressed bald man glaring down at him. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said smart-alecky. "Did I interrupt your VERY important lecture?" Danny looked at Mr. Lancer with a very silly expression on his face. It was the kind us kids know and love: the 'tick-the-teacher-or-parent-off' smile.

"Daniel," his teacher started back on with his ranting. Danny slumped back in his chair when his ghost sense went off. Covering it with a yawn, he nervously looked around the room. His shifty eyes finally spotted the ghost.

"Plasmius," Danny growled. The halfa smiled at him slyly, waving a wave that made you fume with anger.

Mr. Lancer stopped again. "Danny, I try hard, REALLY hard, to give my students an education. And when I fail at giving them one"- here he dramatically put his hand to his forehead-"it just breaks my heart."

"I'm sure it does," Danny mumbled. Vlad waved again, and this time he started to creep up behind Danny's unsuspecting teacher. After mocking Mr. Lancer's movements, Vlad then thought it would be funny to beat up Lancer. He started to power up a plasma blast. Vlad smiled and nodded his head as he danced the ecto-ray from one hand to the next. His red eyes gleamed with the enjoyment of taunting his teen nemesis. Danny shook his head and frowned at Vlad's attempt-even if it would be pretty funny.

"Is there something wrong?" Mr. Lancer glared at Danny. Danny panicked. He had to find a way to distract Lancer's attention away from his lecture that way Danny could beat the living crap out of Vlad.

"Um…" Danny thought quickly. "S-some kid's trying to crawl through that car out there!" He gasped. "Oh my gosh! I think it's YOUR car Mr. Lancer!" Vlad smiled again. Everything was falling right in place.

"WHAT?!?" Lancer ran to the window leaving Danny in peace for the moment. Danny took the moment to quickly, and quietly, power up his own ecto-blast, but since Vlad had been holding onto his ray for a few minutes now, he fired first. The blast hit Danny in the chest full force, throwing him up against the back wall. 'You fool' Vlad mouthed.

"Daniel?" The wall that Danny had knocked into started to crack. Lancer watched as the nearest filing cabinet fell on Danny's leg. Danny cried out as pain shot up and down his leg. The crack in the wall soon spread to the ceiling.

Tears streamed down Danny's face-some out of anger, but most out of pain. Vlad and Lancer just gawked at the sight of Danny in so much pain (Vlad hanging back as not to be seen), one wondering what to do, and the other wondering if his plan was going "as planned" anymore.

"I knew we shouldn't have agreed to hanging around till Danny's lecture was over!" Tucker Foley absentmindedly complained. "I mean, I could be doing SO MUCH right now!" He and Sam Manson were waiting around for Danny's talk with Mr. Lancer to be over.

Sam looked disgustedly at her African-American friend. "And by 'so much' you mean sitting around and playing with electronics?"

"Naturally," Tucker pulled his PDA from his pocket. Tucker was soon engaged himself in a game, so Sam-with nothing better to do-peered through the window of Mr. Lancer's office. She could see Lancer pacing back and forth. Danny's eyes followed his every movement. He sat up in his chair and started to rummage through his pocket until he found a quarter, and started to play with it. Lancer started to paced again, obviously not pleased with whatever answer Danny had given him seconds earlier, and regained his lecture.

A figure stepped out from behind Lancer and mocked him by following his movements. His black hair, red eyes, and suit gave away his position. Danny's ghost sense went off and he glanced around the room, his eyes resting on the ghost. Sam turned away from the window quickly.

"Tucker!" Sam cried. "We have to help Danny! Vlad's after him and he can't morph 'cause Lancer's there!"

Tucker looked up hurt. "But, Sam," he whined. "I'm right in the middle of"- Sam grabbed his shirt collar.

"If you don't help me help Danny," she threatened, "I swear to God that I will destroy that PDA."

Tucker nodded wide-eyed. "Got it," he whispered.

Both friends turned to the window just in time to see a pink plasma-blast hit Danny square in the chest and he was thrown from his chair against the back wall. They watched as the wall cracked. The, suddenly the nearest cabinet fell over onto Danny's leg. He yelled out in pain.

"DANNY!" Sam burst through the door with Tucker hot on her heels. She stood next to Lancer and Vlad quickly sank through the floor with a worried look on his face.

"Well," Tucker started happily, "at least he didn't use his ghostly wail!" Sam glared at him, Lancer looked questionably at him, and Danny just cringed as more pain shot up his leg.

Sam ran over and knelt next to Danny. "Danny, are you okay?" An obvious question, but the only one she could think of to ask at the moment.

Danny looked up into her face of his Goth friend and touched her cheek. He forced a weak smile. "Y-yeah, Sam." He groaned. "I'm…I'm fine." He tried to move but stopped when more pain met his movements. Danny gasped at the newfound pain.

Danny's blue eyes met Sam's violet ones and he forced another smile. She slightly smiled back, a little comforted in his confidence. The crack in the wall suddenly decided to break off a chunk of the ceiling which hit Danny on the top of the head. The last thing he saw was Sam. Tucker and Lancer stood back, stupidly wondering what to do. Then, darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**TWO**

Danny woke up and looked around his room. 'Clock, window, table, IV needle sticking into my arm,' he thought. Settling back into his pillow, Danny thought about what he'd do with Sam and Tucker today. He suddenly sat up, eyes wide. "Wait a sec!" he said. "IV in my arm?!?" Danny looked around his room again which he then realized wasn't room-it was a hospital room. "Hello?" Danny called out to whoever was listening.

Sam woke up quickly when she heard Danny's voice calling out. Her back was stiff and her neck was sore from sleeping in a hard-backed chair outside Danny's room. She glanced over at Tucker who was sleeping soundly. Jazz didn't pay Sam any attention for she was watching her father trying to figure out how the coffee machine worked in the waiting room. Thankfully, her mother was explaining how.

Sam carefully stood up, stretched, and opened the door to Danny's room. "Sam!" he exclaimed. She looked gravely at him. "I have no clue what's going on! I mean: I'm all right, aren't I?!?" Danny noticed the expression on Sam's faced. It told him everything. "Oh…" he said quietly.

"Danny..." Sam sighed. Danny looked up at her expectantly. "You-uh…broke your leg and you have a slight bruise on your head. You were in a coma." Danny looked confused.

"H-how did I break my leg?"

Sam looked at the floor. "You don't remember, do you?" She met his eyes. Danny shook his head. "Well…it was Vlad's fault, mainly."

"What exactly did he do?" he asked, still not remembering a thing.

"Well, from what I saw, he shot an ectoplasmic blast at you and then…then a filing cabinet fell on your leg. That's how."

"And I can't remember any of this because of the concussion?" Sam nodded. Danny sat for a moment, processing everything that Sam had just told him. It was starting to come together. Sam waited patiently. Finally, he pulled back his blanket to find his left leg bandaged in a hard, white cast. Danny slowly looked at Sam again. "How will I be able to fight…?" He made sure no one was around to hear.

Sam finished his sentence for him. "Ghosts?" He nodded slowly. "Um…I don't really know."

Jack suddenly burst into the room with Maddie, Jazz, and a half asleep Tucker right behind him. "DANNEH!" Jack boomed. "You're finally awake!"

Maddie walked over to the side of Danny's bed and leaned over to give Danny a hug. He returned the affection and then she questioned: "So, do you remember what happened?"

Danny glanced at Sam and Tucker. They both shot him a warning. "Uh…no. No…not really."

This time Jazz spoke up. "Sam and Tucker told me that you sneezed REALLY hard and slammed into the wall in Lancer's office." Jazz winked at him. He looked at her with a 'what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about' look. Then Danny realized what Jazz was talking about. "And then you-uh…the filing cabinet next to you fell on your leg and then a pieced of ceiling fell on our head and you were knocked out." She finished the last part quickly.

He sat there, pretending to think about what Jazz had said. "Oh…right. I remember now," he said in a small voice. Danny tried to sound as tired as possible so that hopefully his parents would leave.

There was an awkward silence. Everyone expected everyone else to say something. Danny started but was cut off by Jack exclaiming loudly, "Danny, have you tried the coffee here?!?" He leaned down and whispered in Danny's ear. "Nothing like the Fenton brew we have at home!" Jack winked at his son and Maddie glared at her husband menacingly. Danny blinked, wondering what to say.

Finally, Maddie spoke up. "Jack, honey, maybe we should leave Danny to talk with his friends." She started toward the door.

Jack stood there with a look of stupidity on his face. "Why would we do that?" he asked.

"Come on Jack." She opened the door. "You too, Jazz."

"Oh, Mom," Danny objected. "It's okay. S-she can stay." Maddie looked at him with a question on her face but didn't push the subject any further. Jack sadly walked out the door. He wanted to rant about the coffee some more.

After Jack and Maddie left, everyone settled in a chair and Danny sat up as far as he could without causing himself more pain. "Okay, how are we going to deal with the…problem?"

No one looked him straight in the eye. Jazz and Sam were thinking. Tucker wasn't thinking at all. He was playing another game on his PDA. Danny sighed. Sam stood up. She walked to the door, opened it, and peered outside. Satisfied, she then shut the door and walked back to her chair and sat down. "Just making sure," Sam told Danny. He smiled and she smiled back. 'Well, you can never be too careful,' Danny thought.

Jazz sat up straight. "What if…" she started. Sam and Danny looked expectantly at her. Tucker kept playing his game. Jazz started again, "What if we put you through the Ghost Catcher, separating you into two again?" Danny nodded. It made sense.

"But Jazz," Sam put in. "What about his leg? If he has a broken leg now, he'd still have a broken leg! And then we'd have TWO Dannys with broken limbs!"

Jazz thought about what Sam had said. "Well, I guess you're right about that…"

No one expected Tucker to say anything when all of a sudden he spoke quietly to himself. "What was that, Tuck?" Danny asked.

Tucker looked up. "Oh, uh…" He cleared his throat. "I said: maybe if me and Sam fought the ghosts, then you'd be left to-uh…how can I say this: sit around?"

Danny looked a bit hurt about having to sit around. Sam noticed and added, "But you could probably help when really needed! I mean, you'll get crutches, right? You could follow us around and help when we get into real trouble!" She looked from Jazz to Tucker to Danny. "Or…we could ask Dani for help."

"Sam, Dani can't use a lotta power without turning to a puddle of ectoplasmic goo," Tucker reminded her.

"He does have a point there," Danny added.

Jazz looked at Danny. "Who's this 'Danny' we're all talking about? A ghost friend who's name is also Danny?"

"Um…sorta," Danny, Sam, and Tucker mumbled quietly. "Well, you see Jazz," Danny started to say. "Dani is uh…a…a clone."

"A clone?!?"

"Yeah, well, Vlad wanted to create a clone of me to have 'the perfect son' and…uh…one of the clones was a girl 'cause he found that girl genetics were more stable than guys when creating a clone. So he created Danielle, AKA Dani (with an 'I') for short and"-

The door burst open and a short girl with a red hat, black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and a blue sweatshirt tumbled in. She closed the door quickly. "Whew! That was close!" she said to herself. Picking herself up, she walked over to Danny and looked at him. "Boy, when the news got out that you were in the hospital, the news wasn't lying!" Dani walked over to Jazz. "Ah, and this must be the infamous Jazz, I've heard a lot about you." Dani shook Jazz's hand. "I'm Dani, with an 'I'. Danny must've told you a lot about me."

"Um, actually, I haven't heard anything about you until now." Jazz said truthfully, Dani looked over to where Danny was sitting. He smiled meekly.

"Oh, I get it," Dani said to him. "I'm the one that is barely mentioned, I'm the one that has to be kept out of the conversation that way no one gets suspicious about who I am or who I'm related to."

"Can you keep your voice down?" Danny snapped. "How did you get in here, anyway? You'd have to sign in and since you're under 18, you'd have to have an adult to get in."

"Two words: ghost powers," she replied. Winking at Danny, Dani turned to Sam and Tucker. "Did I hear you say that you needed my help? I thought I heard that."

Um, well, not exactly," Sam stuttered. "We like you and all, but Tucker does have a point-if you use too much energy, you could be a puddle of goo before we know it."

Dani started to pout and said matter-of-factly, "Well, you wouldn't want Jazz to be fighting by your side, now would you?"

"Hey!" Jazz objected. She stood up and strode to where Dani was standing and looked her in the eye. "How would YOU know about my ghost fighting?"

"You mean how much you stink?" Dani stated gleefully. "You know that since me and Danny are somewhat 'related', we share some of the same likes and dislikes plus some of the same memory."

Jazz glared down at Dani. "Why, you little"-

Tucker cut her off. "You know, Jazz," he started off. Sam and Danny both wore worried looks on their faces, unsure of Tucker's big mouth. "You aren't exactly the ghost fighting type. Why don't you be our…oh, I dunno…Source of transportation?"

The four of them looked at Jazz. "Well…I guess I COULD be a good transpirtationer."

Tucker leaned over to Dani and whispered, "Is 'transpirtationer' even a word?" She elbowed him to stop with his question. 'Fine,' he thought. 'I'll just look it up on my PDA.'

"You know, Danny," Sam said quietly. "You haven't actually tried to morph yet. You never know what'll happen.

Everyone turned and stared at Danny. "What?" he asked sheepishly. His face turned a light crimson color. "We've been so busy talking about everything else I haven't had time." He shrugged. "Guess now would be a good time, huh?"

Sam ran to the door, looked around once more and shut the door. No one in sight. Dani closed one window's blinds and Jazz closed the other. "Hey, Tucker?" Danny asked his friend. "TUCKER!" Danny almost yelled. Tucker looked up from his PDA. "Can you hack into the hospitals' computer system and turn off any video cameras that might be in this room?" Tucker nodded. "Good."

"Man, I've heard the comment 'nose in a book' but 'nose in a PDA' is new to me!" Danny muttered under his breath. Jazz, Dani, and Sam giggled.

"Done," Tucker stated. He stood stiffly and put his hand to his forehead in a salute. He spoke gruffly, "Anything else you want me to do-SIR!?!"

Danny saluted back. "Nothing more needed, maggot," he answered.

"Yes, commander," Tucker replied. He finished the salute with: 'sir-yes-sir!'

"At ease, maggot," Danny told his friend. He looked back at the girls. Fits of laughter were bubbling inside them.

Tucker put his hand back down to his side and whispered, "And I heard that PDA crack!"

"Okay," Danny said nervously. "Here goes nothing!" 'I'm going ghost!' he thought and closed his eyes tight. A glowing, light blue ring appeared at his waist and split in tow-one ring going up, the other going down. When Danny opened his eyes, he was in his usual ghost fighting suit. The white 'DP' glowing on his chest. He pulled back the covers of his bed slowly and was surprised to find that his cast had turned black to match the rest of his clothes. "Well, how do I look?"

Tucker was the first-and only-to respond. "You...you look like a perfectly normal Inviso-Bill!" Sam and Dani elbowed him. Hard. "OUCH! I mean Danny Phantom!" He immaturely stuck his tongue out at Dani who returned the gesture.

Jazz had been keeping watch at the door. "Danny! Mom and Dad are coming!!! Change back!"

Danny started to float. "But it feels so good to not have the weight of this cast! I mean, I can still feel it, but"-

"But nothing! Change back! NOW!!!" Sam ordered.

"Oh, all right," Danny said as he settled back into his bed. "You take the fun outta everything!" he mumbled. Sam looked offended, but Danny winked at her. She knew that he was grateful for her convincing him to go into the 'broken' Fenton portal in the first place.

Danny morphed back with seconds to spare as Jack and Maddie burst through the door. "Kids, it's time to go!" Maddie sang. She looked around the room. Spotting Dani, Maddie asked: "Who are you?"

Dani thought quickly. "I'm uh...the...a...the kid that Danny um...watches for one of his extra-curricular classes!" She smiled up at Maddie and Jack. They obviously believed her, they didn't push the subject.

Danny, visiting hours are over, so Jazz, your father, and I will have to go home. Tucker, Sam, we can give you a ride, too." Maddie turned to Dani. "As for you..."

"Oh, it's okay! My father lets me walk home!" Dani reassured her. She gave Maddie another smile and Maddie smiled back. It wasn't entirely a lie. More of a…half-truth.

"Oh...all right." Maddie turned back to her son. "Have a good night, sweetie. If you need anything-just call. Jack, give him back his phone." Jack gave Danny his cell. As he did, he whispered in Danny's ear: "And if you see any ghosts, just give me a call!" Danny smiled. "Come on kids! Last one to the Fenton RV/Assault Vehicle is a...a..."

"Rotten egg?" Tucker offered.

"What? Oh...no. No, I was gonna go for something that had to do with ghosts, but-uh...okay!"

Everyone followed Jack out to the RV. The last one to leave was Sam. Instead of going to the door, she walked over to Danny. "Hey, have fun," she joked.

Danny smiled. "I can't believe Tucker hung around a hospital this long without"- From outside the window, Danny and Sam could hear screaming. 'I was in a hospital?!?' "I stand corrected."

Sam laughed. Leaning over, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. He blushed as she pulled away. "What was that for?" he asked quietly.

Sam turned a shade of pink. "Oh, nothing," she answered. "Just wishing you good luck, I guess."

As she started to leave the room, Danny stopped her. "Sam?"

"Yeah?" she answered. Turning around, she saw him motioning for her to come over to his bedside. Softly touching her cheeks, he pulled her down and kissed her for what seemed to them like hours.

CLICK

Sam turned around and Danny peered around her to find Tucker laughing happily and holding his new camera flip phone. "This is SWEET!" Finally, Tucker noticed them glaring at him. "Another fake-out make-out, guys?"

"TUCKER!!!" She started to run for him and quickly realizing what was happening, he sprinted out of the room and down the hall. Danny could hear them outside. Sam was threatening him and Tucker replied something inaudible.

Danny sighed and smiled to himself. Friends like Sam and Tucker were hard to come by. He lay back in his pillow and shut his eyes, letting sleep cover his tired body.


	3. Chapter 3

**THREE**

Vlad nervously watched the TV screens that were wired to Danny's hospital room. He had woken up a few minutes ago and was now talking to his little girlfriend. Jack, Maddie, Jazz, and his other friend were now in the room. Vlad watched Jack and Maddie leave, then he turned on the speakers.

"...I mean, we can't have TWO Dannys with broken limbs!" 'This is unneeded information!' Vlad thought. All of a sudden, Danielle burst into the room. "That little traitor!" Vlad yelled at the screen.

The four teens-and Dani-talked for some time. The black boy took out his PDA. Danny asked him something and he nodded. The screen went black. "Oh, cheese logs!" Vlad exclaimed. "I need to find some way to hear what they're saying!"

Vlad thought for a long time before he finally came up with an idea. "I know," he said to himself. "I need to do a little shopping, then pay Daniel a visit!"

As Vlad was leaving the room, the monitors came back on and Vlad turned around to find Danny kissing his goth friend. "Why, Daniel," he said to the screen as he watched them pull away. "I had no idea how much you loved this girl." His plan would turn out better than ever.

The next morning, there was a knock at Danny's door. "Come in," Danny sighed, not caring who it was. To his surprise Vlad walked in with flowers, a balloon, and a card that read 'Get Well Soon'. "Whaddaya want, Vlad?" Danny asked. "I'm not in the mood for any of your crap."

Vlad glanced at the teen. "Why, whatever do you mean, Daniel?" He put the flowers down and tied the balloon to the table and stepped away. Vlad tried to hand Danny the card, but he refused to accept it. "I just came by to tell you how sorry I am for landing you in the hospital."

"Sure you are." Danny scowled. "I may not know you very well, but at least I know enough about you!" He propped himself up on his elbow.

Vlad set the card down and replied sharply, "Well, at least I'm not here to"-

Vlad was cut off abruptly when Jack and Maddie strode into the room. "Hey, Vladdy!" Jack called when he spotted Vlad. Vlad's expression darkened immediately.

"How are you feeling today, Danny?" Maddie asked turning her attention to her son. She looked from Vlad to Danny and back again. "I didn't know you cared so much about Danny." Suspicious of Vlad's activities, Maddie asked him: "How long will you be staying?"

Vlad looked around nervously. "Oh, wow. Lookit the time. I've gotta go." And with that, he practically ran out of the room.

"See ya 'round, V-man!" Jack yelled after him. He turned to Danny. "No ghosts, eh?" Danny blinked then realized what his father was asking him.

"Oh, uh, no," he stammered. "No ghosts here!" He looked towards the door. "Where're Sam, Jazz, and Tucker?"

"Whatever do you mean, dear?" Maddie glanced at Jack. He shrugged. "They're at school of course. Don't you remember it's a school day?" She watched Danny run everything through his mind. 'He must've gotten hit on the head hard' Maddie thought.

"Oh, right." Danny sighed again. He'd have no one to talk to. He'd be bored the rest of the day. Danny glanced at his phone. 'Or maybe...' he thought, 'I'll call them later.'

Just then, a tall bald man stepped through the door. He wore a white lab coat and a nametag that read 'Dr. I. M. Eveal.' "Hello again, Jack. Maddie." He nodded towards Danny. "Daniel. Good to see you finally awake." Danny shuddered at the sound of his voice. It made shivers run down his back. "I'm Doctor Ian Matthew Eveal-Dr. I.M. Eveal for short."

"And you are again?..." Jack asked. The stupidity that hung around him told Dr. Eveal that he didn't have the slightest idea what was going on.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Danny, as you probably have a lot of things to quiz me on, but," Dr. Eveal motioned for Jack and Maddie to come outside with him. "I need to speak with your parents."

Once outside, Maddie asked, "Is something wrong, Dr. Eveal?" She looked at Jack who was playing with another ghost-hunting gadget. She sighed. "Is Danny going to be all right, is what I guess I'm asking."

"Well...that depends," Dr. Eveal looked Maddie right in the eye. "Yesterday, after taking Danny's blood, we tested it in the lab to see if everything was all right, and..."

"And WHAT?!?" Maddie barked. She noticed Danny listening to the conversation so she closed the door. Danny scowled, crossed his arms, and slumped back in his bed.

"And...we found a large amount of ecto-plasmic reticulum in the blood," he stated. Maddie stared at him, dumbfounded. Not knowing what to say.

She finally found her voice. "Well...we ARE ghost hunters, and Danny -strangely enough- has come in contact with ghosts a few more times than us. I'm sure it's just some sort of"-

Dr. Eveal cut her off. "A little over half."

Maddie didn't follow. "And this means what, exactly?"

At that point, Jack looked up and said clearly, "It means Danny's half ghost," and then turned back to the gadget.

Maddie put her hand to her head. "Wait just a minute!" Dr. Eveal peered strangely at her. "You're trying to tell me that Danny is..." She threw her arms up. "Half ghost?!?" She didn't realize how loud she was yelling.

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Danny heard, though. 'Oh crud, she knows...and most likely Dad too,' he told himself with a sinking feeling. He glanced at the table next to him and reached for his phone. He dialed Sam. 'Tucker should be with her,' he thought as he waited for her to pick up.

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Dr. Eveal replied, "You mean to tell me that you didn't know your own son was ghost? I didn't know until I took the tests..."

"Well, do you know how long he's been like this?!? Can you tell?!?"

Jack spoke up again. "Honey, he's probably been like this for a while. I mean, he has been acting strangely since he started high school."

"I know, but I thought it was just hormones! Or...or...WHY DIDN'T HE TELL US?!?" Maddie yelled. Good thing no one else was around.

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"Pick up, pick up," Danny mumbled. Sam picked up. "FINALLY!" he shouted.

"Danny? Is that you?!?"

"No, it's the Box Ghost. BEWARE!!!!"

Sam laughed. Danny heard a voice in the background. He heard Sam growl, "Tucker, in a sec!"

"Is that Tucker?"

"Yes, it is," Sam answered. "You wanna talk to him?"

Danny sat there a minute, thinking. "Well...actually I wanted to talk to both of you."

"Okay, don't hang up. I'll call his cell and then we can three way." The line went dead for a second and then Danny heard Tucker's voice. "Hey, Danny!" he sang. "Have fun in the...hospital?"

"Well, actually, um, lemme think...no."

Tucker laughed. "Thought not. I didn't enjoy being in the hospital either, 'cept for the nurses. One even gave me her number! It's 1-800-GET-A-LIFE..." his voice trailed off. "Never mind."

"Anyway, why'd you call? First period starts in like - 3 minutes," Sam informed him.

"Well, first off, Vlad stopped by this morning," Danny told them.

"HE DID?!?" Sam and Tucker chorused.

Danny held his phone away from his ear. "Yeah, he did. Wanted to tell me how 'sorry' he was for landing me in the hospital."

"Maybe he meant it!" Tucker commented. Danny heard Sam's heavy combat boot hit something hard. "OW!"

"That's not the reason I called though," he told his friends.

"Then what is? We gotta get to class!" Danny heard the warning bell.

"Okay, the reason I called is because I think my parents know about me being a...a halfa." Danny let out a deep breath.

"HOW?" Sam and Tucker said in unison.

"I think the doctor told them something and they put two and two together and got 'Danny's half ghost'," Danny answered quietly. Sam caught the bleakness in his voice.

Sam and Tucker heard the door to Danny's room open and this time they had to pull their phones away from their ears when Jack boomed: "DANNEH! You're a ghost?!?"

"Gotta get to class," Sam explained to Danny. "Talk to ya later!" And with that she hung up.

"Yeah, later," Tucker followed up. The line went dead.


	4. Chapter 4

**FOUR**

Danny looked sheepishly up at his parents. "I'll let you two deal with this," Dr. Eveal said, stepping out of the room. Jack, Maddie, and Danny watched him walk down the hall-most likely to get coffee and take a break. Maddie shut the door.

"Danny," she started. "Like your father was saying: IS IT TRUE THAT YOU'RE A GHOST?!?"

Danny and Jack stared at her. Danny finally spoke up. "Um...not exactly, Mom. I'm a-a halfa. Halfa human, halfa ghost. A halfa." He smiled nervously.

"Well, can we see you as a ghost?" Jack asked.

"Um...sure..." Danny said. He wasn't quite sure what to do. "Um...here we go." 'Going ghost!' Danny thought and squeezed his eyes shut, not quite sure of what his parents would say.

Jack and Maddie watched as their black haired, blue eyed teen turned from a normal kid to a white haired ghost. His black outfit gave him away. "Hey!" Jack noted. "You're Inviso-Bill!"

Danny opened his startling glowing green eyes. "Like I've said before: I prefer 'Danny Phantom'" To his surprise, his parents came over and sat down on his bed.

Maddie touched Danny's gloved hand and said quietly, "Honey, we love you, whoever you are. Whether it's Fenton or Phantom. We'll ALWAYS love you. Remember that."

"I will." Danny smiled. Jack patted him on the back. "Yes, what your mother said: we'll always love you," Jack paused. "Do you have any powers?" he asked excitedly.

Danny's disposition brightened. "Do I ever!"

"Well, then let's see them!"

Maddie sighed. She still had a few more question, but if majority ruled, she'd better just see what powers Danny had. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, she figured.

Maddie and Jack watched as Danny rose in the air. Maddie noted that Danny's cast had turned black to match his black jumpsuit. Danny showed off his flying abilities, intangibility, invisibility, ecto-blasts (the small ones), and other small, harmless powers. For the more powerful ones, he explained (like his ghostly wail, super plasma attacks, and such).

"Now that we know what your powers are, explain to us how you got them and how long you've had them," Maddie ordered her son.

"Aw, but I wanna see more of his powers," Jack complained. Maddie nudged him. "LATER," he finished.

Danny laid back down in the hospital bed, exhausted with the little energy he had used to show off his powers. 'Guess I overdid it,' Danny thought. He morphed back to human and pulled the blankets around him. "Well, I've had the powers for about a year now," Danny started. "I think," he added. "Don't rightly remember." He rubbed the bandage on his head.

Jack and Maddie waited for him to think about everything. "Let's see. Uh...well, the day you built the portal, you looked really upset when it didn't work. So I took a look around, hoping to fix it." Danny purposefully left out the part about Sam convincing him to go in.

"I touched the wall in a certain place and before I knew it, the Portal was on and working. Somehow it gave me ghost powers (well, it IS a portal to the GHOST zone), and I soon became Danny Phantom.

"I then realized that I could use my powers for helping people. The only reason the portal works is 'cause I tinkered with it. The Fenton Thermos was powered by my powers and that's when it started to work…"

Danny told his parents just about everything-all the ghosts he'd ever fought, his evil older self, the places he'd been. He left out the parts about payback on Dash, the fakeout makeouts with Sam, and...uh...talking a look inside the girls' locker room once...or twice. (A/N: I don't really like the idea of that, but that HAS happened according to his memory in 'Memory Blank')

When he finished, his mom asked, "So, all this time you've been tardy or unexcused at school or late coming home, you were fighting ghosts?" Danny nodded. "Amazing."

It was Jack's turn to ask questions. "So...how many ghosts have you fought or met?"

Danny thought. "Just about every one in the Ghost Zone," Danny explained.

"Ah, just as I suspected," Jack nodded. Maddie gave Danny a 'he-doesn't-know-what-that-means' look, and Danny nodded.

Dr. Eveal was standing at the door. "Sorry to break up your little party, folks, but visiting hours are over-again."

Maddie asked, "We've been here ALL DAY?!?"

"Yes'm, you have," the doctor answered.

"We've gotta go, Danny. Be good," Maddie told him.

"I will," Danny reassured her.

"And don't drink the coffee here!" Jack reminded him.

"Danny can be released tomorrow, just to let you know," Dr. Eveal told him and his parents.

"I can?" Danny asked excitedly.

"He can?" his parents echoed.

"Yes, he can. I'll give you a pair of crutches tomorrow and you'll be free to go," Dr. Eveal explained.

His parents exited and so did Dr. Eveal. But he closed the door slowly and left with a satisfied evil smile.

Danny sighed. "Sounds good to me." And once again, he let sleep take over.


	5. Chapter 5

**FIVE**

"Danny!" Sam cried when she saw Jazz helping him out of her car the next day. She ran over to meet him.

"Lay off," Danny growled when Jazz tried to help him again. He was obviously in a bad mood. Jazz obediently pulled away and watched him use his ghost powers to get out of the car. He smiled. "I got it," Danny said to no one in particular.

Sam smiled at Jazz. Both knew that Danny would want to do things by himself before he asked for help. (A/N: ok, not really, but I added that anyway otherwise the paragraph would be a sentence long...oh well. I guess it would work w/o it.) Danny leaned heavily on his crutches, almost as if his energy had been sucked away from him.

"HEY! DANNY!" someone shouted. Jazz, Sam, and Danny turned to watch Tucker run up to them. "Danny!" he panted. He bent over and Danny waited patiently for Tucker to catch his breath. Tucker stood up. "Good to see ya up!" He looked around. "Anyone else know about your powers?"

"Nope," Danny answered, "Not as far as I know."

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In homeroom, Danny glanced around nervously. So far, no ghosts had bothered him in the hospital-most likely they didn't know where he was. But now that he was back in school, he had a pretty good chance of getting pestered.

Sam and Tucker noticed that and exchanged worried looks. They had both encountered numerous ghosts looking for Danny, trying to pick a fight during the time of his absence. As Tucker turned back to his PDA-playing yet ANOTHER computer game-Sam watched Danny concentrate on his bookwork.

As she watched Danny, he dropped his pencil. Sam started to get up to get it for him, when it floated off the ground and back into his hand. Danny's ghost sense went off. A piece of paper was rolled up around the pencil.

GHOST CHILD, HEARD ABOUT YOUR RECENT TROUBLE. DON'T WORRY, I WON'T HUNT YOU WHILE YOU'RE HURT. BESIDES, THAT WOULD BE TOO EASY. GET WELL SOON SO THAT I CAN HUNT YOU ANOTHER DAY. SKULKER. BR P.S. EXPECT MORE NOTES

" 'Expect more notes?'..." Danny turned to Sam. "What's THAT supposed to mean?" Sam shrugged and then walked back to her seat.

Throughout the rest of the day, if Danny dropped something each time the object he'd dropped would float back to him and a note would land itself on it.

Halfa, I will have you in my prison, but not anytime soon. Walker

Daniel, Sorry to hear about your leg. It's a pity that you won't be able to fight us for a while. I could fix it for you, you know. -Desiree

Danny! Get better soon! I hope I'm not annoying you! I am the Box Ghost! P.S. There's a box for you at your house.

After reading the note from the Box Ghost, Danny sighed. "You already ARE annoying me; when aren't you?"

Danny had received notes from almost all the ghosts he ever fought, that day. Most of the notes said to get better that way he could fight whichever ghost. Some told him that they wanted him to stay like he was that way he couldn't fight them.

By the end of the day, Danny had collected probably over one hundred notes. As he hobbled to his locker, he told Sam and Tucker, "Yeah, they've been just giving them to me all day. As if they care what happens to me."

Tucker replied, "My only question is how they found out about your leg."

"I agree. But, maybe they're so comfortable with fighting you, they want you to get better because you're a part of their life." Sam shrugged.

Danny smiled. When they got to his locker, he opened the door to find another note. This one read:

CHILD, I, TECHNUS, HAVE FOUND OUT WHERE YOUR LOCKER IS AND AM GIVING YOU THIS NOTE TO… Danny stopped what he was reading. "Still master of really long speeches. That counts on notes, too." He murmured to himself until he found what he was looking for. ...AND I SHOULD INFORM YOU THAT IT WAS VLAD WHO TOLD US WHAT WAS GOING ON AND...WE CARE ABOUT YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE SUCH AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR LIVES..."

Danny glanced at Sam. "Gee, Sam, I guess you were right."

"...and enjoy fighting you," Tucker finished for him, reading over his shoulder. "Oh, sure, THAT sure makes you want to get better."

Danny shut the door to his locker and turned around to face Dani. "What are YOU doing here?" he asked sharply. "You can't be here!"

"Says who?" Dani replied. "School is over for you, plus I'm bored."

"Well, she DOES have a good excuse," Tucker started. Sam and Danny glared at him. "But NOT good enough to hang out with us!"

Danny sighed and leaned against his locker. Balancing on one foot, he carefully laid his crutches up against the locker next to him.

"FENTON!!!" a voice rang out. It echoed down the hall and everyone walking stopped. Danny almost fell over trying to grab his crutches if it hadn't been for Sam holding onto him, steadying him. He smiled gratefully.

Danny quickly pulled himself upright on his crutches to face Dash. "Fenton!" he yelled again. "You can't just go and break your leg!" Everyone stared at Dash and Danny, and anyone nearby inched away. Including Sam and Tucker. Dani stayed where she was, not intimidated by him.

"W-well, I'm sorry, Dash," Danny stammered. "I just, well, it just happened."

" 'Just happened', eh? Well, guess what?!? I'm the only one who's allowed to pound on you! It's my job!" He glanced at Dani. "Who the heck is she?"

"Oh," Dani replied. "I'm Danny's bodyguard." Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Dash gawked at her.

Finally, Dash spoke up. "YOU'RE his bodyguard?!? You? A pipsqueak like you?" He turned to Danny. "Oh, Danny, I'm shaking at what she could do to me!" He started to laugh. Dani's hand began to glow green and she punched him in the chest, flinging him halfway down the hall.

Dash stood up and started to back away. You know what, Fenton?" he stuttered. "You got really good help for a geek! I think I'll go over HERE where there isn't any of YOU."

As Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Dani walked out of the school, Dani looked over and noted, "Hey, Danny. There's a paper on your chest."

Danny looked down at his chest and carefully pulled it off. "Hey, Dipstick," he read. Tucker, Sam, and Danny looked at each other. "Ember."

"Get well soon and I'll fight you next time. Also, say hello to your little girlfriend." Danny and Sam glanced at each other and blushed.

"Little girlfriend?!?" Dani asked. Sam and Danny avoided eye contact with each other. "Does she mean you guys?!?" She pointed to Danny and Sam.

"Yep!" Tucker chimed in. He and Dani started cracking up. Danny hobbled along, ignoring Tucker and Dani. Sam ran, catching up with him easily.

She noticed the troubled look on his face. "What's wrong, Danny?" she asked.

Danny didn't answer at first. Then he said, "I'm just tired of everyone thinking we're a couple! I mean, we're not-yet. Maybe if we actually...got together...people would-uh...stop making fun of us?"

"Or they could keep making fun of us, except worse," Sam added.

"Or you could be right," Danny concluded. Tucker and Dani realized they were being left behind.

"Hey guys!" Tucker yelled. "Wait for us!" He and Dani ran to not get left behind.

When they finally caught up, Danny asked sarcastically, "What took you so long?" Tucker just replied with a dirty look. "Where'd Dani go?"

Tucker looked around. "Don't ask me."

"Well, YOU were the last one with her," Sam added. "What, she just disappeared?"

"Actually, she is quite capable of that, Sam," Danny told her. "Since she is my clone, and she does have ghost powers, she is VERY capable of turning invisible.

"Yeah, didn't you know that?" Dani asked. She stepped out from behind Sam.

"I knew that, I just...uh...forgot," Sam stumbled over her words.

Dani fell back in line with Tucker again and whispered, "They're such a cute couple." Tucker nodded in agreement.

Danny and Sam pivoted around (well, Danny didn't exactly pivot). "We are NOT a couple!" they yelled in unison. Tucker and Dani didn't look convinced.


	6. Chapter 6

**SIX**

After his friends had dropped him off at his house, Danny slowly opened the door to what sounded like fighting to him. He balanced himself on one leg, scooted himself in, and quietly shut the door behind him.

"...and I'm telling you it's your fault for this to have happened!" Danny winced as the sound of his mother's voice carried out from the kitchen. Danny slipped his backpack off his shoulder and pointed himself in the direction of the kitchen.

Arriving in the doorway, he peered through. To his amazement, the entire kitchen had a thin layer of black soot on it, including his mom and dad. They were standing in the middle of the room covered from head to toe in the dark dust.

"Uh...Mom? Dad?" Danny finally said. Jack and Maddie looked over at him, stopping their argument abruptly. "If this is about my leg..."

"Oh, sweetie!" Maddie exclaimed. She pulled back her black hood. Walking over to Danny, she put her hand on his shoulder. "This isn't about your leg! We're fighting about this device that exploded that would've helped you walk around without crutches in the house."

"Which is kinda like talking about your leg," Jack put in, wiping off his face with a towel.

"I guess so." Maddie sighed. "Your father'll just have to carry you up to your room."

Danny pulled away from her and smiled. A glowing blue line appeared around his waist and split into two lines, leaving him ghost as they moved over his body. "No need," he said, floating off the ground. "I have ghost powers, remember?"

"Oh, of course!" Maddie slapped her forehead. "It's just going to be hard to get used to the idea of you being ghost."

"Half ghost," Jack reminded her from beneath the towel.

"I guess I won't be needing these for a while," Danny handed his mom his crutches. Finally free of the crutches, Danny flew to the ceiling and went intangible through it.

"Our little boy's growing up," Maddie said. Jack came over, handed her a towel to wipe her face off with, and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah," he started. "I remember when I was that young and carefree; young...carefree...ghost powers. Wait...I didn't have ghost powers." Maddie shook her head.

"What have I done?!?" Vlad angrily stood up from his monitors. He'd been watching Danny's actions the whole day and nothing he'd seen had brought him any closer to his evil scheme. "Why isn't anything working?" he asked himself.

DING DONG

Vlad looked towards the door, annoyed. "Oh, what now?"

He briskly walked out of his lab, shut the door, and opened his front door to an African-American girl. Vlad looked up and down the girl. She was dressed in yellow and her green eyes had a look of determination. Finally Vlad spoke. "Well, what do you want? I'm a very busy man and I don't want to buy any cookies!"

"I'm not selling cookies." Just as Vlad was shutting the door, the girl put her foot in the door, stopping it. "Don't you remember me?" she asked. Vlad thought hard. She pushed a button on her watch and her yellow outfit was changed to a tight-fit red suit.

Vlad thought some more. Where had he seen that suit before? 'Oh yes,' he thought. 'I designed it.' He turned back to the girl and opened the door wider. An evil grin played at his lips. "Ah, Valerie. Come in, come in."

Valerie smiled and stepped through the door. "Don't rightly remember giving you my address," Vlad spoke under his breath. "Are you hungry, my dear? Tea, cookies?" Valerie shook her head. "Then what in the Ghost Zone do you want?!?" he almost yelled.

Valerie took a step back. "Well...it's about the suit," she started.

"Works fine? Fits to your every move, am I right?" Vlad beamed with pride. "Nothing wrong with it, is there?"

"Well...actually..."

Vlad looked up. His cold eyes bored holes into Valerie's soul. Valerie bit her lip. "Actually-what?" Vlad asked.

"Um...you see, I found this thing on one of the buttons last week. I had someone track down where the source was coming from and it was tracked down to...here."

Vlad looked at her strangely, then smiled, bursting with laughter. "My dear child," he laughed. She held up the 'button' for him and he took a sharp breath in.

The item Valerie was holding was one of the many video cameras that Vlad had hidden to watch Danny for his clones. Now, he just used them to see what Danny's plans were. "Oh...uh, that." Vlad chuckled nervously. Searching for the right words, he quickly reassured her, "That is nothing but a small...tracking device. That way, if you go missing or are hurt, either the police or I could find you." It wasn't exactly a lie.

Valerie eyed him suspiciously. "Right..." Then her tone of voice changed. "I'd better be on my way!" And with that, she walked out the front door.

Vlad looked after her then shut the door. "Odd girl," he said aloud. All of a sudden, the lights started flashing red, and a voice droned; " Red alert. Check monitors. Red alert." Vlad ran to his lab door mumbling, "I really must get an easier lock," and finally burst into his lab. The security monitors were going bezurk and the screens were flashing.

Danny was in his room bending over a box on his bed. He was in ghost form. Vlad sat down in the comfy office chair, keeping his eyes to the screen the entire time.

"What the heck is this?" Danny asked himself as he stood over a box. He carefully picked it up. Shaking it, he found the box to be empty. "Unless it's so full that it doesn't make a sound..."

Smiling, he carefully opened the lid and peeked inside. Nothing but darkness. He opened the box a little more and music blared from it. Danny was knocked to the floor and struggled to get up. As soon as he was up, Danny quickly closed the box. Sitting heavily on his bed, he panted. "Why do I feel like I'm out of so much energy?" Danny wondered out loud.

"Danny!?!" Jack called up the stairs. "You ok?" Danny heard his dad's bulk coming up the stairs.

"What?" Danny asked. Jack opened the door to Danny's room. "Oh, uh...yeah, Dad. I'm fine." Danny smiled, not the most reassuring smile, but Jack didn't notice that.

"Okay, then. If you need anything, I'll be waiting!" Jack told Danny. He started to back towards the door.

"Hey, Dad?" Danny stopped his father. "You're not gonna...oh, I dunno...stand-outside-my-door-waiting-for-me-to-call-for-help, are you?"

"Uh..." Jack gulped. "No! No, of course not! And with that, he walked out Danny's door with his shoulders slumped. Maddie closed the door for him. Jazz shrugged.

Maddie noticed the foul disposition about Jack. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked.

Jack looked up. "Danny's onto us." Maddie didn't respond.

"Um...Jack, honey, you're kinda not-" she was cut off. Jack grabbed her by the shoulders. "He knows that we're waiting outside his door!"

Danny called out, "You know I can hear every word you're saying, don't you?"

"Come on, Jack," Maddie ordered. Grabbing his wrist, she led him towards the stairs. "Danny doesn't want us right outside his door, so let's go watch some TV, ok?" Jack grimly nodded. "Good."


	7. Chapter 7

**SEVEN**

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Danny lazily reached an arm out from under his covers and hit the snooze button. Pulling the blankets away from his head, he jumped when he came face to face with his mom, dad, and Jazz.

"Uh...morning..." Danny said quietly. His family stared at him. "Um...does anyone want to help me-"

"I'll do it!" Jazz yelled.

Danny glared at her. "You don't even know what I want 'help' with yet."

"Well...whatever it is, I'll still help!" Jazz told him.

Danny thought for a bit, then a cruel grin was placed on his face. He sat back with his hands behind his head. "Okay, Jazz," he said. "I've got a job for you." Jazz smiled, waiting for her command. "I want you to dress me." Jazz's smile dissolved in an instant.

"You said 'waffles,' right?" Jazz asked awkwardly. "I'm on it." She stalked out of Danny's room, disgusted at what Danny had asked her, even if he WAS joking.

"Uh...you do know I don't need anything else at the moment, right?" Danny asked his parents. Maddie nodded. "Well, I can get ready on my own, thank you very much."

"Okay, sweetie. If you need help with anything, ANYTHING, just holler!" Maddie told him. "Come on, Jack." She dragged Jack out of Danny's room and shut the door.

Danny could hear his parents moving down the hall. He sat back up in bed and pulled off his covers. Using his ghost powers to keep his weight off his leg, he struggled into his jeans and t-shirt, after stripping of his pajamas, grabbed his crutches leaning against the opposite wall, and fazed through the floor into the kitchen.

Jazz had waffles waiting for him. She put an enormous plate in front of him and set a bottle of syrup next to him. Danny stared at the waffles and then back at Jazz. "You want me to eat ALL of these?" he asked. She nodded. "I'm really not that hungry..."

Vlad sat staring at his phone, fingers drumming. An important phone call was supposed to come. He glanced at a clock on the wall, then his watch, then back at the clock. "Why won't you RING?!?" Vlad asked the phone. He stood up and strode to the opposite end of the room. Just as he reached the wall, the phone rang.

He dashed to pick it up. "Vlad Masters here, how can I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like to inform you that his parents know." The voice sent shivers down his spine.

"Well, I know that!"

"I'd also like to let you know he'll be due back in 5 weeks for some x-rays. Then he might be able to get his cast off."

"Okay, sounds great. Call if anything else happens between now and then."

"Sounds good." Then the other person hung up.

Vlad hung up his phone. "Next time, Masters," he muttered, "Don't hire a guy with a creepy voice." He walked out of the room, content with the current report.

"Danny? Danny, wake up!" Sam softly nudged Danny. His head shot up immediately. "Huh? What? What happened? Where am I?!? The-uh...answer is red!" Danny looked around. Finding himself in his 3rd period class, he finally realized he was at school. "Oh...must've dozed off there," Danny mumbled. He scratched the back of his head and reached for his crutches.

Tucker laughed at Danny's quick response. "No, but that's what it would be if I asked you what color your face was turning at the moment!" Tucker looked away from Danny's glare.

"Maybe you shouldn't use your powers unless you absolutely have to. They seem to be sucking your energy from you," Sam informed him. "Since no ghosts are bothering you, maybe you should leave the..."

Mr. Lancer strode up to the trio with a stormy mood about him. "Daniel," he started. "I can see you have a condition, but that's no excuse to slack off, not like you don't already."

Sam helped Danny up and he leaned on his crutches. "Mr. Lancer, I realize I might have dozed off a LITTLE-"

Lancer blew his top. "'A little?!?' As soon as you sat down, you fell asleep! You missed an entire lesson that you will have a quiz on tomorrow!"

"You know, Danny, we'll catch up with you later...if you know what I mean," Tucker told his friend. He started to make his way toward the door.

"Yeah...uh, later," Sam said. She shied away and shut the door.

Danny objected, "But, Mr. Lancer, I have a GOOD excuse!..." He sighed. "But not good enough for you."

"Danny, I don't know what's wrong. I don't know if it's my teaching or if it's my student..." Lancer watched Danny. He was pretty much floating off the ground.

The warning bell rang and students started to stream into Mr. Lancer's classroom. "Uh...can I leave now? I can't afford to be tardy...again," Danny stated.

Lancer nodded. He watched as Danny floated out the door. "Lancer, you're hallucinating." "Gotta stop drinking lattes before class."

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"Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked the next day. She looked Danny over carefully. His face was a sickly white, his eyes were dilated, and he was moving pretty slow. "You're not looking so great."

"Yeah, man. Maybe you should've skipped school today," Tucker noted.

"I don't feel so great either," Danny told them. "I mean; I'm tired, I'm dizzy, and the room spins when I stand." He leaned against a wall, put his hand to his head, and set his crutches against a water fountain. Tucker leaned down to get a drink.

As he stood up, his hand pushed against the knob and water splashed on Danny's crutches. There was a deafening BOOM and Sam, Tucker, and Danny were left sprawled on the floor. "Um...sorry, I didn't exactly know they would explode," Tucker told Danny sheepishly.

"It's...okay," Danny reassured him. "I didn't know they'd explode either..."

"That was REALLY weird," Sam commented. "That was either a REALLY fancy pair of crutches or they had something circuited in them."

"No...no...They were a normal pair, as far as I know. Nothing fancy. I...hey, what's this?" Danny picked up a small piece of plastic. He turned it over. Sam and Tucker crawled over and looked at the piece. "Masters&Co? I've never heard of that company..."

"Maybe it's a special company that hospitals use..." Tucker shuddered at the word 'hospital.'

"Yeah, maybe...Or maybe we need to look it up." Sam stood up and Tucker did the same.

"Um...a little help here, guys!" Danny reminded his friends.

"Oh, yeah. Right." Sam reached down and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him up. They struggled, but Danny couldn't get his legs underneath him, especially his left leg.

"I don't think that's gonna work," Tucker observed.

"Wow, Tuck, never would've guessed," Danny replied sarcastically. The bell rang. "Great, now we're gonna be late to class." He struggled to get up again, but stopped suddenly, a grin spread across his face.

"Um...Danny?" Tucker asked. "What're you thinking?"

Danny gave Tucker a mischievous look. "Oh, you'll find out." Sam and Tucker exchanged looks, then watched as Danny pulled out his cell.

"Danny! Put your phone away! They aren't allowed to be out during school hours!" Tucker warned.

"It'll just be a quick call," Danny told Tucker. He dialed a number. "Yeah, uh, Jazz?" Sam looked at him oddly and Tucker nodded as if everything made sense.

"You don't have the slightest idea what's going on in his brain, do you?" Sam whispered. Tucker shook his head.

"...and I need you to get me outta it," Danny finished. "K, thanks."

Danny turned to Sam and Tucker. "Hey, you guys wouldn't mind skipping class, would ya?"

"No, not at all," Tucker replied. "It could be fun!"

"But what about attendance? We can't skip!" Sam exclaimed. "Remember what happened last time?"

"Which last time?" Tucker asked. "The last time when we went to Circus Gothica, the time when we went to save Danny, or the last time when we went to the Nasty Burger?"

"We didn't skip to go to the Nasty Burger," Sam said.

"Oh, that's right! That was me and Danny!" Tucker started. "Remember that, Danny?"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool! We went to the Nasty Burger...and then the mall...and then...um..."

"You guys hung out without me?" Sam asked.

"What? No. No, of course no! I mean, why would we do that?!" Danny tugged at his shirt collar.

Before Sam could say something, Jazz ran up with three slips of paper in her hand. "One for you, one for you, one for you." She handed them each a slip of paper.

"Skip class pass?' Sweet!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Pretty awesome!" Sam agreed.

"And mine's...a pass to go home?" Danny asked. "Why go home? I'm fine?"

"No, you're not. You have a broken leg and no crutches," Jazz firmly stated.

"But I have GHOST POWERS," Danny objected, a little upset. "I can...be invisible and just watch the class unseen. It'd be kinda easy...except for the attendance part."

"Danny, you didn't use much of your powers yesterday and look at you now!" Sam said. "You're not looking so great, remember what you told us, you said the room spins when you stand!"

"Plus you were out cold in Lancer's class," Tucker added.

Danny sighed. "Oh, all right. I'll go home. But I'll need some cover. Jazz, Sam, and Tucker stood around him and he morphed into Phantom form. He floated up and stretched. "Boy, sure feels good to have the weight of that cast gone for a bit..."

"You know," Sam started. "I have an idea. What if...what if you went to your classes as Danny Phantom and told your teachers that Danny Fenton went home sick so you're filling in for him? That might work."

Jazz agreed. "Yeah, actually, it might."


	8. Chapter 8

**EIGHT**

"...and so you're planning on filling in for Danny Fenton to take notes for him?" A nearly confused Principal Ishiyama asked. Danny Phantom sat in front of her and nodded eagerly. Jazz sat next to him.

"Principal Ishiyama, Danny Phantom is a...bright person. I think he could fill in for my brother. Plus, my parents have okayed it," Jazz told the principal. Danny nodded again.

"And he promises that he won't use any of his powers?" Principal Ishiyama didn't want to take any chances.

Danny floated out of his chair. "Well, I promise to use only the necessary powers; no ecto-blasts. I promise on a ghosts' honor, or shall I be sucked into the Fenton thermos and dumped into the Ghost Zone," he finished and sat back down in his chair. His cast blended in perfectly with his black jumpsuit.

"Well, if you absolutely have to," the principal said. "You can."

"I do!" Danny and Jazz said in unison. They exchanged looks. Jazz rubbed her neck. "I mean...he does, not me"

"Okay, thanks, Principal!" Danny told Principal Ishiyama. "I'll see you around!" Jazz walked out the door and Danny followed her, floating. He didn't want to put any pressure on his leg. "Too bad I'm not obliged to the ghost's honor," Danny whispered to Jazz.

"I sure hope I don't see YOU around," Principal Ishiyama muttered.

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"Oh my gosh! I can't believe Danny Phantom is gonna be in my class!!" Paulina ran up to Danny and hugged his arm like a small child and their favorite toy.

"And I can't believe you're not going out with Danny Fenton!" Danny replied. "Paulina Fenton STILL has a nice ring to it, don't you think? I'm a ghost, you can't date me. But you CAN date the Fenton kid." Paulina blinked. She let go of his arm and sat down in her seat.

Danny sat down in his assigned seat. Sam cleared her throat. Danny caught her hint. "Oh, um...this is Danny Fenton's seat, right?" he asked awkwardly. Tucker nodded. "Ok, thanks."

Mr. Lancer walked in. "Class, today I will be a substitute today. Mr. Falluca had the ghoulosh today at lunch. Otherwise..."

Dash tried to see who was taking place of his beating buddy in front of him. Whoever it was, his head was down on his desk, and Dash couldn't see his face. "Hey, Fentoni," Dash whispered.

Danny heard him and winced. He turned around. Dash's jaw dropped. "I...I didn't know that you and Fenturd were...are you...wow...Danny Phantom? It's an honor to meet you, again." Dash looked Danny up and down, making sure it was the right ghost. Dash noticed Danny's leg. "Hey, what happened to your leg?" he asked, referring to the cast.

Danny looked at the cast. "Oh, this? Um...well, I-uh...broke it in one way or another." He squeaked the last part and turned around.

"You know, Fenton broke his leg too. Same leg. That's such a coincidence!" Dash laughed.

Danny laughed nervously. "Yeah, what a coincidence."

"...plus an assembly you must attend." Mr. Lancer was finished with his lecture. The class groaned.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Will Danny Fenton, or whoever is representing him, please come to the stage?" Principal Ishiyama asked over the microphone.

Sam and Tucker glanced at Danny and Sam elbowed him hard. "Zzz...huh? Wha-?" Danny sat up, eyes glowing green. Danny turned to the stage.

"You gotta go up there!" Sam told him. Tucker nodded.

Danny sighed. "Man, this sucks," he complained. He floated off the ground and pretended to walk to the stage. Danny stiffled a yawn. The bright lights on the stage, shining down on his face, opened his eyes, waking him up.

"This is Danny Phantom, taking place of Danny Fenton," the principal explained. She handed a paper to Danny. "Danny has received an award for 'most improved.'" Danny nodded, stiffling another yawn. "Would you like to say anything on Mr. Fenton's behalf?"

Danny grabbed the mic. "Um, sure, I guess. I don't really know what to say about anything." Danny put both feet on the ground and took a step forward with his left foot. "I-AH!" Danny grabbed at his leg and crumpled to the ground. He groaned and fell back, his back touching the floor. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz watched, mortified, as Danny morphed back to Fenton from.

"I sure do hope Danny won't get in any trouble today." Maddie glanced over at Jack who was playing with yet another gadget. "Jack, honey, what are you working on?"

Jack looked up. "Not a clue, but it must be important if I found it in the box I marked 'Important Stuff'. Jack turned his attention back to the gadget.

The phone rang. Maddie picked it up. "Hello?...WHAT?!" Jack looked up again. "Okay, we'll be there quicker than you can say 'Ghostkateers!'" She hung up. "Come on, Jack! Our baby boy is in trouble!"

Both jump suited bodies ran out the door and clambered into the Fenton RV/Assault Vehicle.

Vlad watched his monitors that were wired to Casper High. "Where is he? Where is he?!?" Vlad asked the screens, finding every classroom empty. He finally found the auditorium where the entire student body was gathered.

Searching the crowd of uninterested teens, Vlad spotted Danny. "Well, well." He smiled. "The ghost in him has finally gotten out to his peers." Danny stood up and floated to the stage. "Why doesn't he have his crutches?!?"

Vlad turned to a monitor that had the tracking device that he'd inserted into the crutches located. Nothing. "Dag blast it!" Vlad exclaimed. "Now he's not losing any energy because he isn't using the crutches!"

Vlad turned back to the other TV monitors just in time to watch Danny fall to the ground and morph back to Fenton form. Vlad gasped. Then a smiled played at his lips. Vlad morphed to his ghost form. "Maybe my plan will work out after all."

"Oh...my head," Danny groaned.

"Hey! He's moving! He's gonna be okay!" Danny froze. He'd know that voice anywhere, especially when he was running through the halls of Casper High; running for his life.

Danny slowly opened one eye, then the other. When everything came into focus... "AH!" He jumped when nearly the entire student body stared back at him. Danny looked around.

"He's moving everybody! But stay back, let him have some air, or I'll pound you!" Dash warned everyone.

Danny tried to sit up, but fell back, exhausted. "D-Dash? Why...why're you...helping me?" Danny stuttered. Sam ran over to Danny, Tucker a little bit behind her.

"Cause you've helped all of us forever!"

"Danny, are you okay?!" Sam knelt down beside him and helped him into a sitting position.

When Tucker joined them, he nearly toppled over. "Sam? gasp Next time pant Danny's hurt wheeze can you please warn me pant before you run to his rescue?"

"COMING THROUGH!!!" a voice bellowed. Jack Fenton tried to swim through the flood of dumbstruck teens. No dice.

"HEY! COULD WE GET THROUGH TO OUR SON?!?" Maddie yelled through a bull horn. The sea parted. She and Jack raced up to Danny.

"Danneh!? Are you okay?!" Jack asked.

"Sam called us and told us that you were hurt..." Maddie knelt down next to Danny and hugged him. Danny looked at Sam. She blushed. Danny heard movement behind him and found Jazz joining the group.

"So, Fenturd," Dash started. All four Fentons glared at him, and he backed down. "I...I mean, Fenton. How'd you get the powers in the first place?"

Similar questions were murmured through the crowd. "Yeah, how?" "How long have you had them?" "What kind of powers do you have?" "How many ghosts have you met?" "How many ghosts have you fought?!?" "What kind of ghosts have you fought?"

Danny started with an, "I"- but was interrupted with someone yelling, "WHEN ARE YOU AND SAM GONNA GO OUT?!?" Sam and Danny glanced at each other and blushed.

Jazz held up her hands. "Um...all questions can be answered by, uh...e-mail! By tomorrow!" The crowd quieted. She leaned towards Danny and whispered, "That's only if they know our e-mail!" Danny smiled.

Mr. Lancer stepped forward. "Quiet down, everyone!" He held up his hands. The teens went deathly quiet. "Now, I'm sure you all want to tell someone that doesn't go to this school about Mr. Fenton, here -like your parents, reporters, or even the president- but just as Danny has for so long, I think we need to keep this a secret."

Almost immediately, every teen that had a cell phone pulled it out and dialed someone. Silence. Then; "Danny Fenton is Inviso-Bill, I mean Danny Phantom!" "Dad, you wouldn't believe who Danny Phantom really is..." "Hi, are you from the Guys in White?" Sam and Danny glanced at each other. Sam reached down to Danny's hand and held it to comfort him.

"Aw, what the heck." Lancer pulled out his phone. "Yes, hello? Is this Tiffany Snow?...Mr. Lancer here from Casper High..."

Tucker, Sam, and Danny's family turned to look at Danny. He kind of shrank back. Sam let go of his hand and crossed her arms, uncertain of what to do. Jack, Maddie, and Jazz just stood there. Tucker had his hands stuffed in his pockets, waiting for something to happen. Then something did happen.

Valerie strode up to the small group. Just like the other dumb-struck teens, first she gawked, then she asked questions. "Danny Fenton," she huffed. Danny stared at her, unsure if she was going to pull out an ecto-gun at any moment. "I...I'm sorry. I guess." Valerie looked him in the eyes. "I mean, what I'm trying to say is...if I had known it was you I've been trying to...to..."

"Demolish? Erase from existence? Annihilate?" Sam cut in.

Valerie glared at her. Then her expression softened. "Yeah...pretty much." She turned back to Danny. "Well, I dunno. I probably wouldn't have tried to do it."

"I don't really know what to say," Danny replied slowly. "I mean, I accept your apology, but I'm still kinda unsure about what to do...or say, for that matter."

Valerie looked around at everyone. "If you don't mind, I'd like to help you."

Sam looked up right away. She glanced at Danny who had a silly grin on his face. "Ya know, I don't think so," she told Valerie.

"And why not?" Danny and Valerie asked together. Valerie grabbed Sam's arm and pulled her aside. "Look, I know why you don't want me to be in you little 'club,'" Valerie told Sam.

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"I know about the 'you and Fenton' thing, and you don't want another girl to take him away. But right now, it's not about you or me. It's about him and his safety."

Sam nodded. "You're right...but what can you do?"

"I've got my weapons from Vlad," Valerie offered.

Danny told me that Vlad has those things bugged and he's taping every fight," Sam acknowledged her. "I don't know if he's still doing it, but maybe you should get some new weapons, just to be safe. I know the Fentons have some you could use."

Valerie smiled. "Sounds like a plan." The two girls walked back over to the group.

"We need to get Danny away from here," Sam told the group.

Valerie backed her up. "That's before the TV crews and reporters come!"

"I've got an idea," Danny told them. Jack, Maddie, and Jazz watched him. Tucker, Valerie, and Sam filled in the spaces in the small circle around Danny. "Everyone, grab hold of the person next to you." Everyone did as was told.

All of a sudden, the group was going through the stage wall. Danny let everyone go as soon as they were outside. He dropped to his hands and knee, panting. Sweat rolled down his face. He collapsed.

Maddie took charge. "Jazz, go get the RV! Sam, Tucker, Valerie, get Danny off the ground carefully." She turned to Jack. "Honey, you need to help Jazz."

"But, Maddie, Jazz is a big girl," Jack reminded her. "She doesn't need help with everything."

Maddie nodded. "You're right. You can help me look out for any reporters. We have to get Danny home!"


	9. Chapter 9

**NINE**

Someone shook him gently. They were calling his name, but he didn't realize it was his. When he opened his eyes, everything was fuzzy and wouldn't focus. He tried to go towards the sound. Finally, he got there. He couldn't make out the face of the person, but it seemed to be a girl. She looked familiar, but he couldn't say he knew her. Yet, at the same time, he could. She called out again. This time he answered.

Suddenly more people came into view. A man and a woman, the woman weeping with sorrow, the man holding her tight. He turned his head and saw a girl, older than him, her mouth in a tight line, she looked worried. Looking around some more, he saw another girl and boy his age. They too had the same worried air about them.

Turning back to the first girl, he then realized that she was worried, too. She asked him something, but he couldn't answer. He looked at everyone then turned back to the girl. 'Why's everyone like this? What's wrong?' he asked.

She answered: 'It's you.'

He took a step back. 'Why me?' She avoided eye contact.

'They're afraid you might die,' she whispered.

'What? Why...how could I die?' he asked.

'Just...wake up, please, please wake up!' she cried out in despair. He watched her worried face blow away in a breeze.

'Wait! How do I wake up?' he called out. 'I've tried and I can't!' Turning to the other people, he watched as they also turned to dust in a breeze. The breeze whispered something about a door. 'A door?' he asked. Silence. 'Alone, I'm all alone now,' he told himself. He started to walk, but just walked in a circle.

He sat down and put a hand to his head. 'Wake up?' he asked himself. 'But how do I do that? What did she mean? I'm awake...aren't I?'

Looking around, he only saw vast whiteness. 'No...no, I'm not awake; this isn't awake,' he answered himself. His brow furrowed, and he closed his eyes.

When he opened them, a look of determination was set on his face. Looking around again, he spotted a door. 'A door? Was this the door?' His determination changed to confusion. He stood and walked slowly to the door, hoping it wouldn't turn to dust in the win.

'Such an odd door,' he said out loud. It was somewhat a pentagon shape. Black stripes invaded yellow doors; the border of the door was gray metal, bolted together, but very sturdy. There was a red light above the door, off. Along the right side of the door, a pipe stuck out, about halfway down, which connected to a box with buttons on it. He reached out and pressed one of the buttons.

The light turned on a the two yellow doors opened to reveal an infinite realms, some sort of glowing green world. 'It's not a door, it's a portal,' he declared.

Something passed by the door. It stopped and backed up. He stared at the thing and it stared at him. It was almost as if he was looking in a mirror, but not quite. The thing said something. 'What was that?' he asked.

'You need to come with me,' it repeated.

'Why?' he questioned.

'Do you want to ask questions or do you want to find out?' It reached out a hand.

'I...I...I don't know if I can trust you,' he replied. 'But something is telling me I can.' He grabbed the offered hand. The thing smiled and pulled him inside...

Sam watched Danny dream. He'd been in a coma for two days now. His parents had done everything to keep him safe; Jazz stood in a corner, waiting; Valerie and Tucker sat in chairs, worried, but somehow able to keep their minds off Danny's problem.

Danny murmured something. Sam leaned in a little closer and heard something about a door and a portal. "I...I...I don't know if I can trust you...but something's telling me I can," he muttered. Sam leaned back. She looked away, tears in her eyes.

"Sam..." Danny whispered. Sam glanced at Danny. His eyes fluttered open. He looked around, his gaze resting on Sam. "Sam, what's going on?"

Sam leaned forward and hugged Danny. She pulled away from him. "I...I wish I knew." Sam sighed. "I mean...now that everyone knows your secret, you'll probably have dates with every other girl in school, and I"-

Danny cut her off. "I, I meant about the outside. What's been going on in Amity Park, and such?" He thought for a bit and then blushed.

"Oh...right." Sam's face turned red. "Well, the Guys in White think you're on some cross-country road trip around the state, and you're wanted in just about every state-thanks to them; you just came out of a two day coma; and now the rest of this 'club' we've started want to talk to you." She motioned to his family, Tucker, and Valerie.

Danny looked around. "Uh...why're we in the basement?" The portal glowed in the poor lighting.

"Safest place," Tucker explained. "Since the op-center is on some wild goose chase, you house is flooded with people waiting to meet you, and we're waiting for news from Dani; this is the safest...best place to be."

"Dani's in on this too?" Danny asked. Sam helped him sit up. He smiled at her.

"Um...yeah." Maddie motioned towards the portal. "She's in there trying to figure out what to do."

Jazz stood up. "But as for now, you've got a meeting with the president."

"Huh?" Danny rubbed his head. "Did I hear you right?"

"Yeah, he wanted to be the first one to talk to you, so you'd better get ready."

"I'll go tell him!" Valerie volunteered, standing up.

"Oh-kay..." Danny swung his legs over the side of his make-shift bed. His clothes were wrinkled. He morphed to Phantom form and stretched. Floating off the ground, he glanced at his cast. Another name was glowing white against the black.

"How many minutes do you need?" Valerie shouted down the stairs.

"Five weeks works for me," Danny mumbled. He called up, "How about ten minutes?"

"Sounds good!" Valerie replied.

"Well...this should be...different, more or less," Tucker mused. "A meeting with the president, the whole world after you, and Vlad trying to destroy you..."

"Vlad's trying to destroy me?" Danny asked. "Again?"

Maddie looked up. "What do you mean 'again?'" Maddie crossed her arms. "Why would Vlad try to destroy you?"

Jack stood up next to Maddie. "Yeah, we're all such good friends."

"Uh..." Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz exchanged looks. Tucker tugged at his shirt collar. "Did I say that?" Jack and Maddie nodded. "What I meant to say was"-

The ghost portal's light flashed red and 'dinged' open. Dani tumbled out. She stood up and brushed herself off. "Phew." She glanced at Danny. "Oh, hey, Danny. Good to see you up." She spilled the information, without being asked. "Well, Daddy is trying to hurt you again, not to my surprise."

Danny motioned for her to be quiet, but she didn't catch his clue. "But this time with a new twist; he's hired a doctor." Danny slapped his forehead. Dani saw that. "What? Did I say something wrong?" Tucker, Sam, and Jazz frowned at her.

Maddie gave Dani her undivided attention. She got down on her knees, and put a hand on Dani's shoulder. "Dani, sweetie," she started. "What's your father's name?"

"Um..." Dani glanced at Danny. He gave her a signal that it was all right. "Vlad," she mumbled.

"But how could you get ghost powers? How could Vlad be your father?" Maddie stood up.

"I-I'm a clone. One of Danny's." She pointed to Danny. "Vlad was trying to create the perfect boy clone, but I was his only stable clone. Even now I'm not that stable."

"What? That's...That's good to know," Maddie told her.

"Huh?"

"Well, at least he doesn't have ghost powers!" Jack piped up.

Danny scratched the back of his head. "Uh...yup, good thing!"

Maddie sighed. "Don't tell me Vlad Masters has ghost powers!" No one spoke. "Well, does he or does he not have ghost powers?!?"

"Sorry, you told us NOT to tell you that he had powers," Tucker reasoned. "The truth is..."

Danny cut Tucker off. "The truth is, Vlad has had ghost powers for 20 years. Ever since the accident at your college."

While Danny, Dani, Jack, Maddie, and Jazz had their conversation, Tucker ran a search on the computer. Sam turned to the screen. "Tucker, what are you doing now? This is no time for games!"

"I KNOW that!" Tucker told her. "I'm just running a search on 'Masters & Co.'"

"And?..." Sam hinted for him to keep talking.

"And...it's owned by the one and only V. Masters, established in 2005, only one person running it..."

Danny floated up behind Sam. "The '& Co.' probably refers to his ghost self, you know."

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, probably."

Valerie ran down the stairs. "Danny, president, now!"

Danny sighed. "Guess I've gotta go do this...thing..."

"Good luck," Sam told him.


	10. Chapter 10

**TEN**

Danny appeared outside his room where he was told the president was waiting. The president's body guards were waiting outside the door. In place of the sign that said "Danny's Room" was the seal of the President of the United States. Danny cleared his throat.

The man on the left turned his head. "What do you want?" Danny rolled his eyes. The man slipped his glasses down his nose. "Oh, my apologies, Mr. Phantom." He pushed his glasses back up his nose and opened the door.

Danny smiled and floated inside. "I like this celebrity stuff." The guard shut the door behind him.

At Danny's desk, where his computer was, a humongous chair sat. "Um...Mr. President, sir?" Danny floated a little towards the chair, then stopped. Something wasn't quite right.

"Daniel, my boy..." a voice came from the chair. Something about the way that was said reminded Danny of someone...but his most recent concussion kept him from placing his finger on whom. A hand motioned for Danny to sit down. "Please, have a seat." Danny did as he was told.

Danny glanced at his usually open window (now closed). "So...you're the president...that's pretty cool..." Well, he had TRIED to start a conversation.

The chair moved a bit. "Daniel...Mr. Fenton, there's something I've been meaning to ask you..." Danny waited.

All of the sudden, the chair swiveled around. "Will you and your mother join me now?" The president's unusually red eyes glared at Danny.

Danny tensed up, ready for action. "Plasmius! WHAT, no, strike that, WHY do you think either of us will join YOU?!? She knows you're half ghost!"

The president...Vlad sighed. He stood up and walked over to where Danny was sitting on his bed. At the foot of the bed, Vlad walked out of the president's body, letting him fall onto the bed. Danny floated up above Vlad's head. "Shall we finish this conversation elsewhere?" Danny asked, mocking Vlad's way of speaking.

Vlad grinned. "Yes, we shall."

"Then follow me." Danny phased through the floor and down into the basement; Vlad followed.

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"...and I'm just saying that we should"- Maddie looked up. "Oh, Danny! You're back! Did you have a nice chat with the president?"

Danny shrugged. "For the most part." He looked up. "But look who it turned out to be..."

Vlad phased through the ceiling, hands glowing, ready for a fight. "Okay, Daniel! Let's..." He stopped when he noticed the group staring at him. Eyes wide, Vlad gave a meek wave and a small 'hello' to follow.

Maddie gasped. "Vlad?! Vlad...Masters?!" She started to walk towards him but stopped. "I...I can't believe it..."

"Maddie! I just...I mean, it wasn't my fault!" Vlad told her. "I...never wanted this to happen at all...it...just did."

There was a long silence which was soon broken. "Get out." Maddie crossed her arms.

"What?!?" Vlad didn't know what to say.

"You heard me. Get out. Never come back. If you ever come within 50 feet of this family, I will have you arrested."

Vlad frowned but his mood quickly changed. "Very well." He changed back to his lonely, human self and went to the stairs. Before he left, Vlad commented, "This isn't the last you will see of me. I will be back...probably sooner than you'd expect." And with that, he was gone.

"Wow...that guy has issues..." Jazz stood up. She walked over to her parents. "I'm gonna go...get something...like-elsewhere..." Jazz walked up the lab stairs.

Maddie nodded. "Yeah...we've got dinner to cook..." She grabbed Jack. "Come on, honey." They too left.

Valerie stood in the basement gawking after she'd learned that she'd been working for a ghost...in a way. Then she, too, left, without saying a word.

Left in the basement alone, Tucker, Sam, Dani, and Danny had to make the next decision - what to do next?

Danny took a seat on the make-shift bed. "Well...now that THAT'S over..." he started. But he didn't finish. Instead, Danny buried his face in his hands. A few seconds later, his shoulders started shaking.

Sam glanced at Tucker who shrugged. She stood up and walked over to Danny. Setting a hand carefully on his shoulder, she asked softly, "Danny, what's wrong?"

Danny sniffed. A muffled muttering could be heard.

Tucker pulled out his PDA. "Dude, we can't help you if we can't hear you..."

Slowly removing his hands from his face, Danny whispered, "It's not fair. It's just not fair..."

Sam rubbed his shoulders. "Danny, life isn't fair"-

Suddenly filled with anger, Danny pushed Sam away. "I know life isn't fair!" He reached down to his leg and pulled the cast off (with his ghost powers, of course), throwing it across the room. The glowing white words lost their shimmer. "But I'm going to make it fair!"

Sam quickly got up and joined Tucker, watching Danny in horror.

Danny painfully stood up, grabbing for anything that would keep him from collapsing. Nothing was there to support him, so he adjusted to the searing pain, barely. Danny gasped. Turning to Sam and Tucker, his voice barely above a whisper, he said, "I never asked to be half ghost, it just happened. I never wanted it, I never even considered it, it just suddenly happened."

Danny's hair shadowed his green eyes. "Because I never asked for this, I was never able to prevent something like this from happening. I want to go through my teen years without the burden of fighting ghosts, or dealing with the Guys in White, or any of that! I want to be u normal /u ! I want to freak out about a zit, not some ghost that's trying to hunt me down and 'hang my pelt above his fireplace.'" He pulled his arms around himself in a self-hug.

The room suddenly got colder and ice formed under the small groups' feet. Sam's feet slipped out from under her and she fell onto her hands and knees. "Danny, calm down! You're going to do something that you're going to regret! Your powers make you different - that's what I like about you!"

Danny glared at Sam. "Calm down?! Calm DOWN?!? u WHY /u should I calm down?! HOW should I calm down?! I don't care if I have something that makes me different, I don't want to be different, I want to be normal! I don't want to worry about a secret identity day-in and day-out!"

The room temperature was now a cool 7 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold winds blew from all directions, ice and snow in these slight breezes.

"All I want is to be a normal guy that doesn't have to carry the weight of the world upon my shoulders!" The winds stopped. "And I know just how I'm going to do it..." He suddenly disappeared.

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The only thing the three friends failed to notice was Dani turning on the web-cam. She had recorded the entire...speech.

The entire U.S. had seen what Danny REALLY thought of his powers. From upstairs, the Fenton family watched, as did the Guys in White, Valerie Gray, Vlad Masters, and everyone else in the U.S. In the Ghost Zone, huge TV-like portals popped up everywhere. All the ghosts stopped to watch the halfa express his feelings. Everyone knew what Danny really thought, but only the ghosts knew what he was going to do...

Vlad danced around the small motel room gleefully-like a small child on Christmas day. He clapped his hands together. "Oh, this is just TOO wonderful!" Vlad pressed a button on a TV remote he was holding and watched the television screen.

'"Calm down?! WHY should I calm down?! HOW should I calm down?!..."' The young halfa's face was shadowed by anger.

Vlad sat down in an overstuffed chair. "Thanks to his teenage emotions, this will work out even better than before!" He pulled a cell phone out of his jacket pocket.

As he waited for the person of the number he dialed to pick up, Vlad quietly talked to himself. "Now that he's going to get rid of his ghost powers I can work this out even better than before! I just have to wait for him to get rid of them, however he's going to, and then the rest of my plan will fall into place! I can manipulate"-

The person on the other end picked up. "Hello?" a cold and sinister voice asked.

"Ah, yes, Doctor...Whatever-your-name-is, I will no longer be needing your assistance." 'This is easy,' Vlad thought.

There was no answer. Finally, "Well, I was planning to quit anyway, so I guess this all just works out, eh?"

Before Vlad could answer, the other end went dead. "Hello? Hello?" Vlad pressed the redial button.

"We're sorry, but the number you are trying to call seems to be disconnected. Please hang up and try again," an automated woman's voice told Vlad.

Vlad sighed and put down the phone. "Ach, whatever. One less person I have to pay." He stood up and morphed to his ghost form. "As for now, I have business to attend to."


	11. Chapter 11

**ELEVEN**

Danny slowly-but surely-made his way through the Ghost Zone. He didn't know, or care, where he was going or who found him, the only thing that concerned him was who was going to release him of his ghost self. Danny knew that Clockwork couldn't help him (wouldn't actually). Clockwork would say that he would mess up the time stream, or some such nonsense.

Closing his eyes tight, Danny decided that the next place he saw was going to be the home of the ghost who could help him. Danny spun around in a circle, until he became a little sick, and opened his eyes. He grinned. Desiree would definitely be able to help him with something as major as this.

"Tucker, we've gotta do something!" Sam paced the floor hysterically. "Danny is going to do something drastic! I know it!"

Tucker nodded. "Probably. I've never seen him like this before."

"But what can WE do? We're helpless without Danny or his map, in the Ghost Zone..." Sam paused. "Unless..."

Dani cleared her throat. "Ah-hem." Neither teen heard her.

"Unless...?" Tucker wanted more information.

"Unless we..." Sam stopped. "Oh, I don't know! I don't have anything. BR

Dani tried again, this time a little louder. "Ach-hem!"

Tucker put away his PDA ((there's a first xD)). "Don't say that! We'll find...something?"

Sam shrugged.

Dani scowled. "HEY!" she yelled. Both Sam and Tucker looked at her. "If both of you are done having your lame-oh pity-party, I've got an idea.

"Please, Desiree? Please?" Danny was begging Desiree to grant his wish. BR

Desiree turned her back to him. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I can't grant a wish like that..."

"WHAT?!?" Danny grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "You HAVE to! You grant EVERYTHING!"

Desiree pried his desperate hands off of her shoulders. "I am capable, but a wish like that has to go through the Council."

Danny rubbed his forehead. "What if you granted it without them knowing?"

"I...I can do that..." Desiree frowned. "But there would be the possibility of you losing your ghost powers as well as your ability to...er, communicate with ghosts; which means you wouldn't be able to get the powers back..." Desiree looked away from Danny. None of this was true; she was just stalling until his friends could get here-news had come that they were coming-not to mention the fact that he hadn't said 'I wish' yet.

"So what? I don't want them back!?"

"I...I cannot do your bidding."

Danny groaned. "Fine. Then can you at least fix my leg?"

Desiree's eyes brightened. "Of course!"

Hand ready, she waited for her command. Danny thought for a split second. "I wish...that my leg wasn't broken anymore..." Desiree waved her hand. "...and that I no longer had ghost powers." Desiree's eyes grew wide and she bit her lip as she realized what she was granting him. But she had to do it anyway.

"I...must obey," she whispered.

Tucker, Sam, and Dani were currently trying to find their way through the Ghost Zone - without Danny's map.

"Oh, this is hopeless! We're NEVER going to find Danny here!" Sam complained.

All too suddenly, a holographic map popped up. "Real world item found." A red arrow appeared and pointed towards the left of the 'map.' The image that it showed looked like a shadow of Danny's.

Tucker turned the Fenton Flyer (after the Specter Speeder was destroyed in Kindred Spirits, Jack built the Fenton Flyer) in that direction. "This is going to be pretty easy..."

Dani nodded. "Yup, should be."

Tucker landed the ship on a small piece of the Ghost Zone that had a colorful, Middle-East kind of look to it. "Next stop: sand, camels, gypsies, and Danny!"

Sam and Dani glared at him. "This ISN'T the time for jokes," Sam acknowledged him.

Tucker winced. "Uh...okay."

--------------((from this point on, Danny Fenton will be known as "Danny" and Danny Phantom will be known as "Danny Phantom". Read on to figure out what I'm talking about))---------------

Someone was shaking him. "Danny. Danny, please get up." The voice sounded _so_ familiar, but so far away.

Danny groaned and rolled over. "Five more minutes, Mom. I don't want to go to school today."

The person sighed. "When do you EVER want to go to school? Now GET UP!"

Danny groaned again. "If I have to..." He opened his eyes. "GAH!" He sprang back a couple inches. Danny reached out to touch the person.

Looking back at him, oddly enough, was himself. Well, not exactly himself, but it was him! In a way. It was he, himself, Danny, but it was his ghost self. Danny PHANTOM.

The now-conscious Danny looked around the spacious tent-like room and spotted Desiree. He stood up, his brow furrowed. "YOU! You did this!"

Desiree looked up at him. As calmly as she could, she replied, "You have brought this upon yourself. It is only you whom you can blame."

Danny blinked. "Huh?"

Danny Phantom came up behind Danny. "She means that you're the one who made the wish...Well, us, in a way." He directed a question towards Desiree. "Is there any way you could change us back?"

Desiree only stared at a wall.

Danny glanced at the mirrored image of himself. "Is there?"

Danny Phantom shrugged. "Dude, you - we brought this upon ourselves, just like Desiree said."

"Apparently Danny's ghost self is smarter than his human self." Danny turned around and saw Dani smiling smugly at him. Sam and Tucker came inside the tent as well.

"Guys!" Danny cried. He ran to them and crushed them with the force of his arms in a hug. His friends and clone detached him from them. "How'd you find me?"

Dani answered his question. "It's not that hard to find you - you haven't showered for a week!" Danny frowned. "Actually, you haven't. Because you were in a coma for so long..." Danny shrugged and made a mental note to shower before going back to school.

Sam quickly told him the truth: "That thing in the Fenton Flyer. As soon as you were separated from your phantom form, you popped up on the screen."

Tucker, paying no attention, WHATSOEVER, to the current conversation said, "Ya know, this reminds me of the time you used the Ghost Catcher to split yourself in half."

Both Dannys (("Dannies" plural? O.o)) snapped their fingers. "That's how we can do it!" they both exclaimed in unison.

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Sam quietly went over to join Desiree in her little corner. "How come you can't fix this?"

Desiree shrugged. "It's kind of a 'one wish a month' kind of deal..." Sam didn't look convinced. Desiree sighed. "I can't fix it because Danny needs to want his powers to get them back. I saw him the last time he separated himself, and he really looked like he was enjoying himself. He's the one who has to have his powers back. Otherwise, I can't grant the wish."

Sam stood up. She walked out of Desiree's tent where both Dannies, Dani, and Tucker were waiting in the Fenton Flyer. "Jeez, take forever, why don't you!" Tucker said.

Sam got in and buckled her seat belt. "Yes, actually, I will."

Danny and Danny were stalling outside the Fenton household's kitchen. "You go first!" Danny Phantom urged.

"Why don't YOU? You're the superhero!" Danny Fenton pointed out.

They both thought for a bit. Finally Danny came up with an idea. When he told it to Danny Phantom, he grinned.

Danny stepped into the kitchen. Jack, Maddie, and Jazz were seated at the table, eating dinner. "Um...Mom...Dad...I id something REALLY stupid..."

Maddie sprang up and hugged her son, showering him in kisses. "Oh, but you're all in one piece!?"

Danny pushed her away. "Not exactly..."

Danny Phantom stepped out from the other side of the wall. "Uh...hi, Mom...Dad...Jazz..." He shuffled in further and stood next to Danny.

Jack stood up and said, "You know, this is just getting TOO confusing for me with a son that's a ghost and a son that's a human..." He exited. Jazz followed her father.

Maddie turned her full attention to her boys. "How did this happen?"

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After the two Dannies had explained to their mom everything, it was nearly midnight. Maddie stood up, pushing her chair back in. "This will be just like having twins...except they both have the same personalities and one's a ghost!" Turning to her boys, she told them, "Danny Phantom, you may keep the name 'Danny'. As for Danny Fenton, here, I think it would be wise to call you by a slightly different name...how about Dan? Yes, Dan. Both of your first full names are still Daniel. Got it?"

Dan and Danny both nodded.

Maddie smiled. "Good. Now both of you get to bed because you BOTH have school in the morning."

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Danny slept on the floor in his room, and Dan slept on the bed. Dani was in the guest room in the op-center. Tucker had left for home immediately after the group had returned to Fenton Works and was now asleep, as well. Sam had gone a few minutes after her tech-geek friend. She was the only one lying awake on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

Have you ever been unable to fall asleep because the next day you knew something bad or good was going to happen? Or that you knew SOMETHING was going to happen soon, but you didn't know what? That second, that was happening to Sam, right then.

Right as she was starting to fall asleep, Sam felt the unusual feeling of a ghost grabbing her by the arms and pulling her through the walls -intangible and unexpected- just like the first time Danny had ever taken her through a wall. Sam opened her eyes and found herself dangling above the two-story house, that she called home, by the arm.

Before she could panic, Vlad Plasmius turned himself visible. Sam's face darkened. "What do you want?"

Vlad shrugged. "Oh, I don't know...You're just to be the bait for the fish."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're hilarious."

Vlad grinned. "Yes, aren't I, child?"

Vlad didn't search Sam for a cell phone. She pulled out her phone and texted Danny with her free hand. She sent it. "Help VMVP! PLZ help! SM," then she dropped the phone in the bushes.

Vlad wasn't paying any attention. "Is there anything you'd like to get before we leave?"

"Nope, I'm good." Sam's expression didn't change.

"Excellent, then we're off." Vlad took out handcuffs and cuffed Sam. He started to fly them to his mansion.


	12. Chapter 12

**TWELVE**

Both Dannies sat up. They glanced at each other. A noise was going off somewhere in the room, but neither knew what it was. Danny stood up and turned on the light. He turned to Dan who was getting out of bed as well. Both boys were dressed in pajamas. "I bet it's the cell phone," Danny commented.

Dan's eyes lit up. "I bet you're right. Check your pants pockets!" He walked over to his jeans that were strewn over the back of his computer chair. Danny went to the closet where he had hung up his jumpsuit. "I wonder if we'll have TWO cell phones! Ya know, since we split ourselves in two?" Dan asked.

Danny searched his pockets. "I wouldn't know," he mumbled. Empty. "But I'm guessing that would be a 'no.'" He turned around to face Dan, arms folded.

Danny found the phone. "Ah-ha!" He flipped it open. His eyes grew wide. "It's Sam!" Danny ran over to look over Dan's shoulder. "Help VMVP! PLZ help! SM..." Dan's voice trailed off.

Danny took a step back. "Well, we've got to do SOMETHING!" Outside, it was getting light. The boys' alarm clock went off. Both Dannies glanced at it.

Dan groaned. "This is just GREAT!"

"What?" Danny started walking to his closet.

"Well, ONE of us has to go to school!"

Danny pulled his jumpsuit out of the closet. "That's probably gonna have to be you."

"What?! Why me?! I can help you! Besides, we don't HAVE to go to school..."

Danny was just zipping up the front of his jumpsuit, pajamas laying neatly folded at his feet. "Good point..."

Dan grinned. "I know."

"But it's not going to work."

Dan's grin faltered. He watched Danny sit down and pull his gloves on, one at a time. "And why not?"

Danny grabbed a boot and pulled it on his left foot. "Because I have ghost powers and you don't," he replied in an almost mocking tone. He pulled on his other boot and stood up. "Besides that, I'm ready and, uh, you aren't." Danny smiled at his split self, who was gawking at the reply, and flew through the wall.

Dan kicked his chair, then pulled back, hopping on one foot. "OW!" He sat down on his bed. Dan glanced at the folded pajamas and then at his wrinkled jeans. He sighed. Putting a hand to his forehead, Dan mumbled, "This wasn't supposed to happen at all..."

Suddenly filled with determination, Dan stood up. "And it's not GOING to happen! My best friend isn't going to get hurt! And neither is..." He paused. "...myself, just because of my selfish needs!"

"That's the Danny I know!" a voice said. Dan turned around to find Danny floating outside the now-open window.

"Um...Danny?"

Danny looked down. "Oh, right!" He disappeared for a moment, and then came back up with Tucker.

"Thanks, dude." Tucker jumped into the Dannies' room. "Well, you ready to get yourself together?" he asked Dan.

Dan nodded. "Sure."

Danny came into the room. "There's just one problem...how?"

Tucker scratched the back of his head. "Jeez, normally Sam is the negative one around here!"

Dan thought a moment. "I think I have an idea..."

Sam flipped through the TV channels aimlessly. "Vlad, there's nothing to watch!"

Vlad came into the room that held her holding chamber. "Well, that's not MY fault."

"Where's my tofu soy melt?" she demanded.

"Almost ready..." Vlad turned around and started back to the kitchen.

"Oh and, Vlad?" Sam pulled up the footstool of the recliner she was seated in. "Be sure not to put too much soy in the melt."

Vlad cringed a little. "Of course."

Sam was being held captive in Vlad's lab inside a huge (probably 30x30 ft) barred box. Inside the crate was a recliner, TV, a videogame console, games, a bed, clock, and a bookshelf. He sure knew how to make his captives at home.

Sam thought for a bit. "Hey, Vlad!" she called out again.

He ran into the room. "WHAT?! Your sandwich is right here!" Vlad slipped the sandwich between the bars.

"Thanks." Sam took the meal. "But that's not what I was wondering."

"Then WHAT is?!"

Sam stood up. "Well...what IF I told you I needed to use the restroom? As I see you haven't put one in here..."

Vlad sighed. "I suppose you could go use the facilities..." He walked to the door and unlocked it. Sam started to come out of her prison, but Vlad stopped her. "BUT, you CANNOT do ANYTHING else!"

Sam put her hands on her hips. "Okay...so are you letting me go or not?"

"I'm letting you go!"

Sam smiled. "Ok, then." She ran as fast as she could out the nearest door.

As far away as she could get, and out of breath, Sam stopped. She was still inside Vlad's mansion. Sam looked around, spying the front door. She walked up to the door, opened it, and was about to go outside when she paused. Before her, Sam could see Park Street, the main street that ran through town. "This is just too easy."

Sam put a hand out the door and immediately retracted when she felt the shocking sting of a shield.

"You didn't think it would be that simple, did you?" Sam turned around and pressed herself against the wall as Vlad advanced. "I mean, sure, it would be nice, for once, that the villain allows his captive to escape. But that's not how I work..."

"Dude, I don't know if this is going to work..." Tucker was holding the very heavy Fenton Ghostcatcher above his head, sweat beading on his forehead.

"It has to," Dan replied. He walked over to a wall, in the basement, put his arm against it, and leaned his head on his arm. He didn't say a thing.

Knowing how Dan had wanted to finish his sentence, Danny acknowledged Tucker, "It's our last hope, if we want to save Sam..."

Tucker nodded, then cringed as the weight of the Ghostcatcher seemed to suddenly get heavier. He set it down. "You know, I think I'll just wait until you guys are totally ready to use that."

Danny shrugged.

Dan came over from his spot on the wall. He took in a deep breath. "Ok, I think I'll be all right."

"I just thought of something...that might be a conflict..." Tucker put his hands in his pockets.

Danny crossed his arms and glanced at Dan, an eyebrow raised. "What?"

"Well...uh...if you were both to be the hero...who would...uh..." Tucker paused.

"Darn you, Tuck, would you just tell us?!" Dan asked . "We don't have all day you know!"

"Smooth..." Danny commented on Dan's little outburst.

Tucker almost started laughing at his thought. "Well, who would get the girl?"

"Get the girl? What do you mean by THAT?!" Dan asked nervously. He glanced at Danny. Both Dannies were red in the face.

"Who would get Sam?" Tucker repeated himself.

"Well...I...uh...he..." Both Dannies started off pointing and making gestures.

Finally, Danny said, "I think we should get what we need done, done."

"Ha! You're avoiding the issue!" Tucker pointed out.

"Hey, yeah, whaddaya know?" Dan looked at his watch and tapped it. "According to my watch, we should've been done...a while ago!"

Danny nodded. "Oh, yeah. Long time ago. Loooooooooooooooooooong time ago! We should...uh...get done with this Ghostcatcher thing!"

Tucker rolled his eyes. But then shrugged and agreed. He picked up the Ghostcatcher.

Dan and Danny stood near each other and Tucker pulled the Ghostcatcher over the top of them, careful to have the "merge" side down. There was a flash of light.

When Tucker could finally see again, after the blinding light, he gasped. In front of him were two Danny Phantoms. "Um...I don't think it worked..."

Danny and Dan (although you couldn't tell who was who) looked at each other. One said, "Well, I guess we both have powers now?"

The other one tried an ectoblast, powering it up, but then it just fizzled out. "I'm guessing that's a 'no.'"

The first Danny who spoke started freaking out. "But this HAD TO have worked! We can't just be two Danny Phantoms with no ghost powers!! It just doesn't work that way! I CAN'T work that way!" (I'm guessing this was the previous Dan Fenton.)

Danny scratched his chin, deep in thought. "Unless...there's another way...like Desiree said..."

Tucker, who was also considering this, said, "Didn't she say that if you were to change back to normal, as one Danny, you had to WANT to be the one and only Danny?"

Both boys nodded.

Tucker started to figure everything out. "So...if you two were to WANT to be one guy again, and you really and truly wanted this, all you'd have to do is say something or think something and you'd be able to fuse into one again?" He glanced at the Dannies.

Danny snapped his fingers. "Of course!" He turned to Dan who had figured it out as well. It'd be just like morphing into the phantom form or back!" Dan nodded.

"Of course!" Dan started pacing. "It's so SIMPLE and obvious, it'd have to work!"

"So all you have to do is what exactly?" Tucker asked.

"Just think about the same thing and want it, I guess," Dan commented.

"Exactly! It's all just a mind trick..." Danny glanced at Dan and Tucker who were backing up slowly. He shrugged. "What? I paid a LITTLE attention to what Jazz was saying when we were fighting Nocturn."

Tucker walked over to the Ghostcatcher. "So...do we use this or not?"

Danny shook his head. "I don't think so." He glanced at Dan. "You ready to try this?"

Dan nodded. "Sure. It's fun to be human without having to worry about super powers..."

"...but it's more fun to have them?" Danny finished for him. Dan nodded, a grin on his face.

Dan turned his full attention to one wall; Danny did the same. Tucker kept quiet.

After ten minutes of silence and concentration, an odd mist started to fill the room. Tucker stood up, alarmed, but kept his mouth shut. He glanced at where he thought the Dannies were, but the mist was so think, he could barely make out their shapes.

The lab was soon filled to the brim with this ghostly substance. Tucker thought he wouldn't be able to find his way out. But as soon as it had begun, it stopped and cleared.

In the center of it all stood one Daniel Fenton, slightly swaying. He staggered, put his hand to his head, and fell over.

"Danny!" Tucker ran over to his side. "Did it work?"

Danny groaned and phased through the floor.

Tucker panicked. "Danny?!" He groped the floor, trying to find his friend. Nothing. Suddenly feeling a draft on his head, Tucker turned around to see if there was a source causing it.

Which, of course, there was. "You know, I don't get what you see in these things..." Danny was floating just above the ground, Tucker's beret over his white hair. He tossed the hat down to his friend.

Tucker fit the hat back on his head. "Well, how do you feel?"

Danny flexed. "Pretty good." He glanced at his arm. "Pretty strong..." Both boys laughed. "Now we've just got one more thing to do..."

"I warned you, girl. And now I'm going to follow through with what I was going to do." Vlad had Sam strapped to an examination table.

Sam struggled beneath the leather straps. "So, Vlad. What are you going to do with me?" She gave a murderous glare at Vlad, but he shrugged it off.

Vlad grinned. "Oh...you'd like to know. Whatever floats my boat. I've got a vast majority of choices." He clapped twice, and the nearest cabinet opened up to reveal some of the most gruesome weapons Sam had ever seen.

She gaped at them in awe. "Oh...my...gosh..." Her eyes got wide and she gasped.

"Scared?"

Sam eyed the closest one and grinned. "You wish. I can't believe you have the DeathMaster3000!? That would be SO cool!..." Her voice faltered. "If it wasn't about to kill me." She laid her head back on the table...


	13. Chapter 13

**THIRTEEN**

"If I remember correctly, Vlad's mansion is around this area..." Tucker pointed to a spot on a map of Amity Park.

Danny shrugged. "Yeah, looks about right." He turned the map over and looked at Tucker, a grin on his face. "Or..."

"Or...?"

"Or we could just borrow the Infi-Map, from Frostbite, and it'll take us directly to Vlad."

Tucker grinned. "Good idea!"

Both boys turned to the ghost portal. Danny walked over and started it up. "We've gotta make this quick cuz I don't think we have much time," he said grimly. The portal started to reveal the swirling green world. "Let's go."

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"What do you mean we can't borrow the Infi-Map?!" Danny was outraged. He paced the icy cave floor. "The plan was perfect, flawless, nothing could go wrong! And now...this!" He glanced at Frostbite, who said nothing. "I thought I was the 'savior of the Ghost Zone.' Doesn't that mean I can use stuff when I really need it? Don't I get special privileges?"

"Well, to a point," Frostbite said. "But in your case, it would be something to help yourself."

Tucker put his word in. "Dude, he's going to save a life!" He was quickly silenced by a glare from Frostbite.

Frostbite looked Danny in the eyes. He saw the hope, desperation, and love in them - but he could also see the start of tears welling up in the young man's eyes. "Oh...fine. All right." Frostbite sighed and turned around, opening the doors to the cabinet that held the map. He handed it to Danny but didn't let go until he said, "But this is the only thing you use it for."

Danny nodded. "Got it." Frostbite let go and let the boy take control.

Tucker grabbed onto Danny's shoulder. "Ready."

Frostbite gave a word of advice. "You know, it may not work in the outside world since it is a map of the Ghost Zone."

Danny glanced at Frostbite. "It's my last hope. I'm guessing Vlad has a portal with him wherever he may be." He opened the map. "Take me to where Vlad Masters and Sam Manson are." The map glowed and started to get them where they wanted to go, finding a portal that would take them to the exact place.

Frostbite heard a 'thanks' yelled out at the two boys left the frozen waste land.

"Ooh, your boyfriend better hurry up, not much time now until I start the show!" Vlad gave Sam a venomous look.

Sam's face flushed. She frowned. "He's not my boyfriend. He's just my really good friend! I've known him forever!"

Vlad shrugged. "Whatever you say...but isn't it always, in movies and TV shows, the girl and the boy who are enemies, saves the other's life...or they've been friends since forever - aren't they the ones who always end up together in the end?" He walked out of the room to let his captive meditate on what he said.

Sam didn't notice the TV on the wall behind her open up to reveal the Ghost Zone and two 14-year-old boys tumbling out. They got up to brush themselves off. Danny silenced Tucker, as he was about to speak, when Sam started to talk to herself.

Sam sighed. She wanted to be with Danny, as his girlfriend, but she didn't know why she wanted that. "I think I like the idea of having a boyfriend much more than I would actually having one," Sam thought out loud, to herself.

Danny silently walked up behind her. "Well, I for one absolutely adore having a girlfriend...you haven't actually ever had a real boyfriend, have you?"

Sam looked up suddenly to find Danny standing above her, face breaking out into a smile. "Danny!" She blushed. "Um...I...uh, well, I..."

"…Probably want to get out of those restraints, right?" Danny asked softly. Sam nodded. Danny unbuckled the straps that held her in.

As soon as Sam was free, she hugged Danny for a long time. "I'm so glad you came," she whispered into his ear.

"Why wouldn't I?" he whispered back. "You are one of the most important people in my life."

"Someone else in the room cleared their throat. Danny and Sam looked around to find Tucker standing awkwardly at one end of the room. "Uh...hi. Remember me?"

Danny started to smile, but Vlad's voice cut through his happiness. "Well, wasn't this just a wonderful little reunion?"

Quickly, Danny walked up to Vlad, put a finger in his face, and said very sharply, "Do not ever come within 50 feet of me or my friends or my family or anyone I've ever come in contact with ever again. If you do, I'll be there to make sure you are returned to wherever I'm going to send you." And with that, Danny turned around, grabbed Sam and Tucker by the wrists, and went into the Ghost Zone.

Vlad just stood there, not knowing what to do. "I thought I'd be able to win...why couldn't I?" he asked himself. He stood there, stupefied.

Seconds later, Danny came back through the portal with Walker and his officers. Clearly, Danny said, "Walker, arrest this man and never let him out of the Ghost Zone."

Walker smiled. "With pleasure." He walked up to Vlad. "Vlad Plasmius, you are hereby arrested for...sigh numerous things that I currently don't want to go into, so, change into your ghost self, and come with me."

Vlad did as he was told, surprisingly enough. He let himself be lead into the Ghost Zone by the GZPD officers.

"Walker, uh..." Danny said, "Won't Vlad be able to change back to human and escape?"

Walker shook his head. "Nope. Those handcuffs were specially made to make sure he never changes to human again."

Danny gulped. A little nervous, he said, "Uh...okay. Sounds good. Thanks."

Walker answered, "Don't mention it. And don't worry, ghost boy, today's not your day to be taken to the prison." As he left the room, he laughed, making Danny a little more nervous.


	14. Chapter 14

((final chapter – short, sweet, and to the point. sorry it took so long to get up here, I finished it and thought I update it. Enjoy!)

Sam silently stood on the steps of Casper High School, searching the frosty white sky in hopes of a certain ghost boy. She sighed and took a seat on the cold steps of the school, glancing at her watch as she did so. 11:59 PM, it read. Sam sighed again and rested her head on her hands. He had said he'd be "right back"...4 hours ago.

Moments later, two ice cold hands rested themselves on Sam's shoulders, then moving around shoulders to her chest in a 'from-behind' hug. A kiss on the top of her head soon followed. She turned around. Danny was kneeling behind her, now with one arm around her shoulder. Sam smiled at him. "Not too late, I hope?" Danny asked.

Sam hugged him. "No, not at all." She looked into his eyes. Danny tried smiling, but something seemed to be bothering him. "What's wrong?" Sam asked him.

"I dunno." Danny looked away, then looked back into Sam's eyes. "It's just..."

Sam pulled him close. "It's just what?" she whispered.

Danny embraced her even tighter. "I...Sam...it's just..."

Sam pushed Danny back a little so she could look at his face. But he quickly embraced her again so that she could only catch a glimpse of it. Danny was close to tears if not crying.

Putting her cheek against Danny's, Sam whispered into his ear. "What is it, Danny? You can tell me...anything, you know."

I know," Danny whispered back. After a few minutes he pulled away. His eyes were red from crying, and he wiped his cheek with his sleeve. Danny had been trying to avoid eye contact with Sam for so long...then he looked back into her eyes. "I..." His voice quavered. "I...love you."

Sam smiled. "I know..." Then she closed her eyes, leaned forward, and kissed him on the lips.

In between breaths, Danny muttered something to the extent of: "I love you so much...I don't think you'll ever know....it's just too...I can't explain...how much I love you...I've always loved you...I always will..." But neither really cared for words; there was no need for them.

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"I dunno how you do it, Fenton," Dash Baxter complained.

Danny shut his locker. "Do what, Dash?"

"Stay with a girl - ONE girl - all through high school! That's...insane!!!!"

Danny walked to the cafeteria. He looked around and spotted Sam. She smiled and waved. "No, Dash." Danny sighed and grinned. "It's love."

"Love, eh?" Dash asked, a smile on his face. "So...you gonna marry her, ya think?"

Danny's face turned a bright shade of red. He glanced nervously at Dash and then back at Sam. Graduation was a week away. He'd already picked out a ring and everything... Danny turned to Dash. "Maybe," he replied smugly, then walked briskly away towards his long-time girlfriend.

Sitting down next to Sam, Danny asked her, "Have I told you how beautiful you look today?"

Before Sam could answer, a freshman girl ran up. "D...Danny? Can...Oh my gosh...I can't believe...This close to...Danny...Phantom!!!" Then she ran off.

Sam laughed. "You like being the most popular senior at this school?"

Danny answered, "Why...do you like being the most popular senior's girlfriend at this school?"

Sam smiled and nodded. Danny leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed as he pulled away. "Yeah...I kinda like it..." ------------------ (A/N: YUCK. Mushy ending, no doubt. :P Anyway, this might be a...uh...preview to another fanfic - future planned one. ;D)


End file.
